Monica Gallagher (born 24 April 1963) is Frank Gallagher's (David Threlfall) estranged wife, and the mother of Fiona (Anne-Marie Duff), Lip (Jody Latham), Ian (Gerard Kearns), Carl (Elliott Tittensor), Debbie (Rebecca Ryan), Liam (Johnny Bennett) and Stella (Nikita Brownlee). She is bisexual and left Frank for a lorry driver named Norma Starkey (Dystin Johnson). She came home at the end of series 1 but had left by the start of series 2, she then returned for good at the beginning of series 4 and resumed co-habiting with Frank. Although her intentions for this were unknown at first, a visit from her mother in series 5 explained her backstory and a possible reason of why she returned to be with her children. Monica announced at the beginning of series 5 that she was pregnant again, giving birth to Stella at the end of the series. She has two known grandchildren, an unnamed child from Fiona when she left in Series 2, and Lip's daughter, Katie Maguire. Monica appeared in 40 episodes overall.