Trudy is Mr. Monk's late wife. 3-4 years before the beginning of the show she was murdered by a car bomb in a parking garage. Mr. Monk blamed himself for the murder for years until pieces of the case began to come together. Trudy's father is a TV producer in Hollywood. She was a journalist and loved what she did. Adrian and Trudy met in college. He got her phone number because she used his back as a table to write it to another man. Trudy was the one person who not only never had a problem with Monk's quirks, but actually embraced them. The character of Trudy has been played by multiple actresses, the most famous and loved of which is Melora Hardin. Trudy appears in episodes for many different reasons. You will almost always see pictures of her in Mr. Monk's apartment. She also will appear in flashbacks like in Mr. Monk and the Game Show and in episodes where we see their wedding. When Mr. Monk is having a near death encounter, he will hallucinate that he is with Trudy, the most notable of which is in Mr. Monk vs. The Cobra. Adrian's love for Trudy has never been questioned. We truly see his love for her in Mr. Monk is on the Air. Steven Weber's character makes multiple jokes about Trudy's death like I hope she rests in peace, or should I say pieces Monk then leaps across the table and starts to attack Weber. *Spoiler Alert* In Mr. Monk and the End Pt. 2 we learn that in college, before she met Adrian, Trudy was pregnant. She had believed her daughter had died 8 minutes after being born. In fact, the child survived and works as a movie reviewer.