Cruella de Vil poisoned her father and two stepfathers. Her mother Madeline (Anna Galvin) kept her locked inside the house to prevent her from harming others. As an adult, she met Isaac (the Author) (Patrick Fischler), who was posing as a regular journalist; through him, she learned that her world, a perpetual 1920s England, was one of many. Smitten with her, the Author gave her the power to control animals. Cruella used the new power to have her mother's dalmatians kill her, and killed them and made their fur into a coat. In a struggle to prevent the Author from writing another note
Cruella de Vil her with a foreign nanny and clothes for gifts. During her teens, was the final straw which gave her her half white hairline in her fury (earlier, she is seen with all black hair and a slight gray-ish streak). Her miserable childhood is what drove her to evil. The series is also the first time Cruella uses seduction as one of her evil schemes. In the series finale, she uses an inflatable body suit to disguise herself as a sexy blond bikini surfer to seduce Roger to make Anita think he is cheating on her so they will split up