Alex Vause

Alex Vause is a fictional character played by Laura Prepon on the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black. The character is loosely based on the real ex-girlfriend of Piper Kerman, author of Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison. Before her arrest, Vause worked for an international drug cartel and was in a relationship with protagonist Piper Chapman, who once transported drug money for her during their travels. Vause is portrayed as the catalyst for Chapman's indictment. She is reunited with her ex-lover in federal prison, nearly a decade after the events that led to their breakup. Her relationship with Chapman is reignited, as they carry out a tumultuous love affair in prison. Vause is noted for her pragmatism, forthrightness, wit and veiled vulnerability. She is a main character in seasons one, three, four, five, six, and seven and a recurring character in season two. Inspiration The character of Alex Vause is loosely based on Catherine Cleary Wolters, ex-girlfriend of Piper Kerman, the author of Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison and an executive consultant on the series. In Kerman's memoir, Wolters is given the pseudonym Nora Jansen, who is a marginal character in the book. In actuality, Kerman and Wolters did not serve their prison sentences together as depicted in the series; however, they were reunited in a flight to Chicago, where they were detained for several weeks in a detention facility to testify in the drug trafficking case. Their stint in Chicago is portrayed in the series' second season; however, the defendant they were to testify against was changed to the cartel's kingpin, as was the fact that Wolters and Kerman were cell-mates in the prison. Wolters met Kerman in 1991 in Northampton, Massachusetts, becoming friends around the time Kerman graduated from Smith College. Kerman wrote in her memoir that Wolters was part of a "clique of impossibly stylish and cool lesbians in their mid-30s". Wolters said both of them ran in "the same little Noho lesbian social circle", and spent time together when she returned from her travels. Wolters had told Kerman she worked for an African drug lord, moving heroin around internationally, while Kerman was fascinated by her globe-trotting, adventurous lifestyle. Wolters asked Kerman if she wanted to take part in the operation. According to Wolters, she and Kerman became romantically involved after Kerman had gotten involved in the drug ring.