Peacock's 'Punky Brewster' Answers The Question of What Actually Happened To Punky's Mom

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD! DO NOT READ IF YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW!

Peacock’s brand new Punky Brewster series finally answered an age old question that fans have had for more than 30 years – what happened to Punky’s mom?

The original series, which ran from 1984 to 1988 starred Soleil Moon Frye as the title character, who had been left in a grocery store by her mom and was found squatting in an apartment building owned by a Chicago photographer named Henry Warnimont, who became her foster dad.

The series then followed Punky and her dog, Brandon, teaching Henry how to lighten up.

Peacock brought Punky’s mom to life in the new show and she’s played by Sharon Lawrence.

Click inside to find out where Punky’s mom has been for thirty years…

In the season premiere, Susan calls up Punky, but it doesn’t amount to anything other than an out-of-the-blue phone call.

Susan’s appearance comes when she runs into Izzy, the foster child that Punky took in, during an ’80s-themed block party.

Izzy looks a lot like Punky once did as a small child, and Susan tells her that she looks “like someone I used to know.”

After the meeting, Susan and Punky prepare to meet after their long break apart, but it looked like Susan was bailing on the meeting as she walked past a coffee shop. However, when Punky followed her, they wound up at an AA meeting.

There, during a testimony, Susan revealed she was five years sober.

“I’ve never been five years before, that’s why I finally feel strong enough to make amends to the person who most deserves an apology, my daughter, who I abandoned,” she explained to the rest of the group. “She was seven and in 15 minutes, we’re gonna meet up again for the first time since. God, I’m afraid. But I’m here for support because I so badly, I wanna be strong for her.”

After meeting face to face personally, Susan tried to explain her abandonment to Punky.

“I know that there’s no excuse for what I did,” she said. “I know that you think I was taking care of you, but the truth is you were the one taking care of me,” Susan told her daughter. “I was out of control, I was strung out, I didn’t care about myself but I did care about you and I couldn’t risk you not making it either.”

Punky interjected, “So you just left me?”

“I’m not asking you to forgive me,” Susan added.

“Good … because I forgave you a long time ago,” Punky tells her before opening up about how she is grateful in a way that Susan gave her a good life.

“It’s about how grateful I am. I have a good life and I am okay,” she says.

Punky and Susan then make plans to be in each others’ lives, but not as a mother and daughter.

“I don’t need a mother, I had one, his name was Henry,” Punky said. “But I could use a friend.”

In the new 2021 series, Punky returns as a single mom of three, who is trying to get her life back on track. Then, she meets Izzy, a young girl in the foster system, who reminds Punky a lot of her younger self.

It stars Cherie Johnson, Freddie Prinze Jr., Quinn Copeland, Noah Cottrell, Oliver De Los Santos, and Lauren Lindsey Donzis.

Punky Brewster is airing on Peacock now.

Just recently, Soleil split from her husband in real life.