Paige Matthews



Paige Halliwell (adopted Matthews) is the fourth child of Patty Halliwell, a good witch who lived in San Francisco. Unlike the first three daughters Patty had with her husband Victor Bennett--Prue, Piper and Phoebe -- Paige was fathered by Patty's protector, a whitelighter named Sam Wilder. At that time, it was not only forbidden, but unthinkable, for a witch and a whitelighter to be together so the baby was given up for adoption. On August 2, 1977 Patty and Sam left the newborn baby to a nun, Sister Agnes, at a local church. They left the baby with a blanket and asked that her name start with a P, like all women of her immediate family. Penny and Sam were the only other people who knew of the baby's existence.

The baby was named Paige, and adopted by the Matthews family. In her teen years, Paige was rebellious — staying out all night, partying with friends, skipping classes, talking back to her parents. In this, she shows a strong resemblance to Phoebe, who was also rebellious as a teenager, though Paige did not go as far as shoplifting. In 1994, when Paige was around seventeen, she and her parents were involved in a car crash. Her parents died, but she subconsciously saved herself by orbing out of the car. Not knowing what happened or how she survived, Paige blamed herself for what had happened and turned her life around in order to make amends. She stopped drinking and started to do well in school.

After graduating high school in 1996, she got into Berkley due to good test scores and a strong essay on the death of her parents to study Social Work. When she finished college, she started working as a secretary with South Bay Social Services, helping the poor, the disabled, and the elderly. A few years later, Paige attempted to track down her biological family. She went to the police and learned what happened the night she was left at the church. Paige checked around and suspected she was related to the Halliwell sisters, but never approached them about it because Patricia had already died.

In 2000 Paige started going to Piper's club, P3, because she felt like she belonged with the Halliwell sisters. One year later, when Prue died, she felt "magically" drawn to the funeral. It turned out she'd been drawn by Piper casting a lost-witch spell in hopes of bringing Prue back. While giving respect for Prue, Paige spoke to Phoebe and shook her hand, giving Phoebe a premonition of Shax (the demon that killed Prue) killing Paige. Prior to this encounter, Piper and Phoebe had never known Paige even existed, let alone she was their sister. Although Paige hears stories about and compares herself to Prue, the two never actually meet each other.