Helen Thermopolis is Mia's mother. Mia has spent most of her life with her mother, who works as an art painter in New York. At the beginning of Mia's journal, Helen has just realized that she is pregnant. The father of the baby is Mia's Algebra teacher, Mr. Gianini. Helen wants a small wedding at city hall after Mr. Gianini proposes to her. Mia's grandmother, however, plans a big wedding with high society guests that Helen would not have liked. It is through her daughter and her daughter's father's actions that Helen is kept out of the wedding that she would not have liked.
