Arlene was born to a Gentile family, probably sometime in the 1940s. She converted to Judaism when she married Cuddy's father, sometime in the late 1950s or early 1960s. She was apparently a housewife raising her two kids, Lisa (the elder) and Julia (the younger). Arlene later admit that although she loved both of her daughters, she didn't feel that she got along that well with Lisa because she was more into the interests that her father pursued. Julia, on the other hand, always got along better with Arlene because they shared many of the same interests.