Memory Alpha
Register
Advertisement
Memory Alpha

"Did you know that space is so vast, so infinite, it takes billions of years for that tiny pinprick of light to make that lonely journey from its star to our eyes? The brilliance you see in the night sky, Jean-Luc, that exquisite light, it's just an echo, really, of a star that has long since faded. Like me."
– Yvette Picard, 2310s ("Hide and Seek")

Yvette Gessard-Picard was a Human woman who lived in La Barre, France during the 24th century. She was the wife of Maurice Picard, the mother of Robert and Jean-Luc Picard, mother-in-law of Marie Picard, and the paternal grandmother of René Picard. Yvette was deceased by 2364. Jean-Luc affectionately referred to her as "Maman".

Yvette used to sing "come out, come out wherever you are" to Jean-Luc when he was a young child. (Star Trek: Insurrection) She also encouraged him to "look up" at the stars and tell him wondrous extemporaneous stories, fueling his imagination and later, his interest in joining Starfleet. (PIC: "The Star Gazer", "Monsters")

Yvette and Maurice used to have the same discussions about whether or not to get a replicator that Robert and Marie would later have, with Yvette for and Maurice against. (TNG: "Family")

As a child, Captain Picard took piano lessons; he dreaded the recitals. As he felt that he was not very good at playing the piano, he hated playing in front of large audiences. In later life, he regretted giving them up, as they pleased his mother. (TNG: "The Perfect Mate")

Yvette had a turbulent relationship with her husband Maurice, which proved a traumatic part of Jean-Luc's childhood memories. (PIC: "The Star Gazer") While Jean-Luc had long assumed this was due to abuse on the part of Maurice, he later realized that Yvette suffered from severe mental illness that she refused to treat, and that Maurice was actually trying to help her. (PIC: "Monsters") This struggle with mental illness would eventually lead Yvette to choose suicide in the 2310s, something which Jean-Luc blamed himself for. (PIC: "Hide and Seek")

Yvette Picard, illusion

Picard imagining his mother as an old woman

Later in his own life, Jean-Luc would often imagine what Yvette would've been like had she survived to an older age. He would later tell Tallinn that he often pictured her as an old woman, inviting him to have some tea with her, and telling him that they would have a "nice, long talk." (PIC: "Hide and Seek") While in a distant section of the universe where thoughts become reality in 2364, Jean-Luc Picard experienced a brief vision of his mother where that exact scenario played out. (TNG: "Where No One Has Gone Before")

Appendices[]

Appearances[]

Background information[]

Yvette was played by Herta Ware in TNG: "Where No One Has Gone Before" and by Madeline Wise in Star Trek: Picard. Her name was mentioned for the first time in TNG: "Chain Of Command, Part I".

She was named in homage to actress Yvette Mimieux, who starred in the 1960 film The Time Machine. (Star Trek Encyclopedia (4th ed., vol. 2, p. 145))

The illusory version of Yvette spoke English with a French accent in TNG: "Where No One Has Gone Before", but the real Yvette spoke with an English accent similar to that of the other Picard family members in PIC: "The Star Gazer".

A picture of Yvette was included on a page of the Picard family album that did not make it on screen.

In the comic book The Gift she was given the first name Christine.

Based on the Birth year of Jean-Luc Picard (2305), the age of Dylan Von Halle who Portrayed Jean-Luc during the time of filming and her own Birth Year of 2274 stated by Memory Beta, Yvette would have likely died in 2316 around the age of 42.

External link[]

Advertisement