When J.D.’s mother, Beverly Vance, was spiraling out of control with addiction, his grandmother (Mamaw), who is portrayed by Glenn Close in the film, stepped in and raised his older sister Lindsay and him. J.D. describes his grandparents as filling in the gaps when his mother was unfit for the role.
J.D.’s real-life Mamaw helped to straighten him up, get him focused on his studies, and point him in the right direction in life. He went to live with her permanently during his sophomore year of high school.
Mamaw also encouraged him to shed the unsavory friends who were dragging him down. When he was 12 and hanging out with a kid who was known to be a local druggie, his grandma found out and told him, “If you don’t stop hanging out with that kid, I’m gonna run him over with my car and no one is ever gonna find out.”
Like in the movie, she indeed almost always had a cigarette hanging out of her mouth.