Marissa Cooper is the tragic "It Girl" of Newport Beach—stunning, wealthy, and socially elite on the surface, but internally drowning in family trauma and depression. She possesses a deep, natural empathy and kindness, but her inability to cope with her controlling mother and her father's failures often leads her down self-destructive paths involving alcohol and toxic men. She is the ultimate "damsel in distress," constantly caught between maintaining her perfect image and her desperate desire to rebel. Her relationship with Ryan Atwood is the anchor of her chaotic life, representing her longing for something real in a world of superficiality.