text: mona simpson ( the simpsons ) mona j. simpson is a recurring fictional character in the animated television series the simpsons . she has been voiced by several actresses , including maggie roswell , tress macneille , pamela hayden , and most prominently , glenn close . glenn close 's performances as mona have been well received by critics and she was named one of the top 25 guest stars on the show by ign . mona was the estranged wife of abe simpson and the mother of homer simpson . in the episode " mother simpson " where she was introduced , it was established that homer believed that his mother was dead , a lie his father abe told him when in reality she was on the run from the law after she sabotaged mr burns ' germ warfare laboratory . mona first appeared in the second season in a flashback in " oh brother , where art thou ? " . she returned in the seventh season for her first main appearance in " mother simpson " and also had a large role in " my mother the carjacker " . the character appeared again in season 19 's " mona leaves - a " , but died during the episode . an inception - inspired dream version of her appears in season 23 's " how i wet your mother " . in the episode " let 's go fly a coot " , she is revealed to have met abe when she was a waitress in a cantina bar and he broke the sound barrier to impress her . the character is named after writer richard appel 's ex - wife , the american author mona simpson . the inspiration for the character is bernardine dohrn of the weather underground . biography many of the details of mona 's life are unknown , but various pieces of her story have been revealed . mona was first mentioned in season one and made two brief flashback appearances , but her first major appearance was in " mother simpson " . in the episode , it is revealed that in the 1960s , mona was a homemaker who lived with her husband abraham simpson and homer , who at the time was a child . she became caught up in the hippie movement after her beliefs were ignited by seeing joe namath 's long hair during super bowl iii . mona soon after became a political activist and , at one event , mona and a group of other activists protesting germ research entered montgomery burns 's laboratory and destroyed all the biological warfare experiments . as the gang escaped , she stayed behind to help a fallen burns , who in turn , swore to have her thrown in jail for the rest of her life . since that night , mona was forced to leave her family . abe lied and said mona had died while homer was at the movies , in order to spare him of the trauma that his mother was a wanted criminal . for 27 years , homer presumed that his mother was dead . he was accidentally reunited with mona in " mother simpson " after he faked his own death to get a day off from work and mona visited his supposed grave site . overjoyed at their reunion , he brings mona home to meet his family . at first , mona does not reveal her whereabouts and spends time catching up with her family , but is forced to reveal her past . she later travels to the post office with homer , where mr. burns recognizes her face and tracks her down with fbi assistance . however , a tip - off to homer from chief wiggum allows mona to escape . wiggum is grateful to mona because his asthma was cured by the " antibiotic bomb " her group detonated during their lab infiltration , thereby allowing him to join the police force . forced to go on the run again , mona tells homer she loves him and escapes to the underground . in " d 'oh - in in the wind " , it is revealed that at some point , mona spent time at a commune with two hippies , seth and munchie , after life with abraham became unbearable . it is also strongly implied that she was unfaithful to abraham . in the episode " homer 's paternity coot " , a long lost letter reveals that mona had an affair with life guard mason fairbanks , leading homer to falsely believe that he might in fact be his real father . in " my mother the carjacker " , homer discovers a secret message left for him in a newspaper that tells him to go to a location . there homer finds mona , who explains she had to return after she saw a macaroni pencil holder homer made for her when he was five . she is captured by police and put on trial for the crime she committed . due to homer 's heartfelt testimony she is acquitted . mr. burns is angered by this and has her imprisoned for the minor charge of signing into a national park under a false name . as she is being transported to jail , homer attempts to break her free from the prison bus , but the chase ends in what appears to be her death when the bus drives off a cliff and lands in the water , where it explodes and sets off a rock avalanche which buries it . in truth , she narrowly escaped before the bus went off the cliff , and is still on the run . mona returns in " mona leaves - a " to try to make up for lost time with homer , but he angrily refuses , saying that she will just abandon him again . homer feels guilty about being angry with her and tries to make up only to learn she has died . she is cremated and , according to her will , homer is supposed to throw her ashes on a mountain , where they disrupt a missile guidance system which would have devastated the amazon rainforest , once again plotted by burns . although disappointed that the last thing his mother asked him to do was " another hippie protest " , homer successfully stops the launch . mona briefly returned in " how i wet your mother " , where she rescues the family in a dream of homer 's , saying that she lives on in his dreams . it is revealed in this episode that a couple of weeks before she left homer as a child , homer and grampa went on a fishing trip that was unsuccessful as the boat capsized . homer would later feel guilt , believing that the incident prompted mona to leave him and his father . mona solves homer 's problem by telling him that the fishing trip never played a role in her leaving . character creation mona simpson is first mentioned in season one 's " there 's no disgrace like home " , where homer recalls his mother telling him that he 's a " big disappointment " . she later made two brief flashback appearances , the first being season two 's " oh brother , where art thou ? " and the second being season six 's " grampa vs. sexual inadequacy " , and in both cases she was voiced by maggie roswell . mona 's first major appearance was in the seventh season episode " mother simpson " . the episode was pitched by richard appel , who had been desperately trying to think of a story idea and decided to do something about homer 's mother . many of the writers were surprised that an episode about homer 's mother had not previously been produced . the writers used the episode as an opportunity to solve several puzzles about the show , such as where lisa 's intelligence came from . the character is named after richard appel 's wife , who is the novelist mona simpson . the inspiration for the character comes from bernardine dohrn of the weather underground , although the writers acknowledge that several people fit her description . her crime was intentionally the least violent crime the writers could think of , as she did not harm anyone and was only caught because she came back to help mr. burns . mona simpson was drawn in a way so that she has a little bit of homer in her face , such as the shape of her upper lip and her nose . there were several design changes because the directors were trying to make her an attractive older and younger woman , but still be " simpson - esque " . voice glenn close was convinced to voice the character in " mother simpson " partially because of james l. brooks . she was directed in her first performance by josh weinstein . when mona gets in the van , her voice is done by pamela hayden because glenn close could not say " d 'oh ! " properly and thus they used the original temp track recorded by hayden . glenn close recorded original material for two other episodes : season 15 's " my mother the carjacker " and season 19 's " mona leaves - a " . a deleted scene featuring mona from " mother simpson " appears in season seven 's " the simpsons 138th episode spectacular " . the character also has a speaking appearance in season ten 's " d 'oh - in in the wind " , this time voiced by tress macneille . reception glenn close has been well - received as the voice of mona . ign.com ranked close as the 25th best guest star in the show 's history for her first two performances as mona . in 2007 , entertainment weekly called close one of " fourteen guest stars whose standout performances on tv make us wish they 'd turn up in a simpsons movie 2 " . in 2008 , entertainment weekly also named close one of the 16 best simpsons guest stars . the phoenix.com placed close in the second position on their list of the best 20 simpsons guest stars . star news online listed close as one of the four hundred reasons why they love the simpsons . close appeared on aol 's list of their favorite 25 simpsons guest stars . robert canning of ign wrote that close " gave us the sweet voice of mona simpson . she 's a perfect fit , able to convey a loving , motherly tone , while still convincing the audience she 's a headstrong hippie activist . " " mother simpson " is one of bill oakley and josh weinstein 's favorite episodes as they feel it is a perfect combination of real emotion , good jokes and an interesting story and they have expressed regret about not submitting it for the emmy award in the outstanding animated program ( for programming less than one hour ) category . " my mother the carjacker " received a writers guild of america award nomination in 2004 in the animation category . " mona leaves - a " received mixed reviews from critics . robert canning described it as " clunky and forced and wasn 't all that funny " but still gave it a 7 / 10 . richard keller called it a decent episode , but despised mona 's brief appearance .