Dr. Charlotte King is a fictional character from the ABC medical drama Private Practice, portrayed by KaDee Strickland.

[3] Charlotte attended Johns Hopkins School of Medicine,[2] and went on to become the youngest physician to hold the position of Chief of Staff at St. Ambrose Hospital in Santa Monica.

[4] Charlotte unintentionally meets Cooper Freedman, the Oceanside Wellness Group's pediatrician, using internet dating websites.

[5] When Cooper realizes that Charlotte is running the opening of Pacific Wellcare Center, upstairs and a direct competitor of Oceanside Wellness Group, he breaks up with her.

[2] The couple reunites, but Charlotte quickly becomes jealous of Cooper's relationship with his best friend Violet Turner (Amy Brenneman), particularly when he moves in with her to provide support during her pregnancy.

[8] Charlotte is fired from her position as director of Pacific Wellcare Center because the practice owner William White (James Morrison) believes her to be heartless.

Charlotte's integration into Oceanside Wellness Group as a sexologist initially threatens Cooper, but ultimately he is able to accept it.

Cooper reveals that his parents had a son who died before he was born, and he always felt like he was a replacement; the revelation of Charlotte's previous marriage triggered the same concerns.

She has stated that the role is challenging as she does not "necessarily agree with her way of handling people or what she stands for" and is "shocked at how her point of view just really takes over for her and that's kind of it.

"[12] Strickland grew up in a medical environment as her mother is a registered nurse, something she has deemed useful for the role as it presents her with a "phenomenal resource for [...] research material".

[12] Prior to the broadcast of the first season of Private Practice, Lynette Rice of Entertainment Weekly described Charlotte as the show's "Tough-as-nails hospital administrator who disapproves of Oceanside Wellness' New Age attitude toward medicine.

"[13] Matt Mitovich of TV Guide stated that a season later, Charlotte seemed "less shrill", observing that: "She originally came across as a character simply designed to be the thorn in everyone else's side.

The season placed greater focus on the characters' love lives and the subsequent pressure placed on their personal and professional relationships.

"[15] Korbi Ghosh of Zap2it opined that the relationship between Charlotte and Cooper was interesting as it "came out of left field", something which Strickland agreed with, stating: "it just goes to show that life is very unpredictable, I think.

"[16] The season also saw Charlotte in more of a central role, as the show's main protagonist Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh) spent more time working at St. Ambrose Hospital.

"[18] By the sixth season, executive producer Barbie Kligman said the pairing was "real" while Walsh said it was "one of the best relationships", citing the example of Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton in Friday Night Lights, and that it was rare to see that on television.

In October 2007, she noted that of 306 respondents to a TV Squad poll on viewers' favorite Private Practice character, only one had selected Charlotte.

"[20] She wrote that she was indifferent towards Charlotte, and saw her as more of a recurring than regular character, whose lack of screen time made her hard to relate to.

She did find Charlotte's nickname of "CanYouHandleMe441" interesting, and noted that: "It sure shows a side of her that we didn't know existed.

"[22] Andrea Reiher of Zap2it called the scene in "Nothing to Fear" which saw Charlotte dress in white lingerie and a veil after proposing to a hesitant Cooper "creepy".

"[25] When Charlotte slept with Archer in retaliation, McMichael noted: "[her] tough as nails exterior is crumbling, which is sad, because that's what made her interesting.

"[26] Reiher was critical of Charlotte in the episode which followed, commenting that she took an opposing stance to Cooper at work: "Because she's a giant turd.

The vivid sexual confusion between Violet Turner (Amy Brenneman) and Cooper Freedman (Paul Adelstein) has been completely sacrificed so that Cooper could play out his ridiculous affair with Charlotte, whose character has resisted all attempts at softening—sea changes in hair, makeup and wardrobe be damned.