Ella Montgomery

Ella Montgomery is the mother of Aria Montgomery and Mike Montgomery, as well as the former wife of the adulterous Byron Montgomery, though his acts of infidelity are not known to Ella until episode four. Ella loves and trusts her family very much, treating her kids as equals, not as her property. She works at an art gallery in Rosewood and is also a teacher at Rosewood High.

Background
It's revealed in "It Happened That Night", that Ella was born Ella Jane Rose to Judy and Jack Rose. On November 22, in either the 1980 or 1990s, Ella married Byron and gave birth to her children in the mid to late 1990s.

Season 1
Ella is happily married to Byron as she returns from her husband's year long sabbatical in Iceland. She even befriends Meredith before she learns that this woman had an affair with her husband.

When she finds out about Byron's affair via a letter from and signed by "A," she separates from her husband and leaves the Montgomery household, although she believes that Byron should be the one to leave instead. She moves to an apartment above her gallery and starts working at Aria's high school to earn more money towards the new rent expense. She had been disappointed that Aria kept the secret from her, but was really disappointed in her husband for his failed parenting in putting their daughter in such an unfair dilemma. Her letter tells Aria that she understands why she Aria kept it from her and forgives her.

Ella is also oblivious to Aria's romantic relationship with Mr. Fitz, but is aware that Ezra is a positive force in Aria's life. Quite awkwardly for the couple, she constantly praises Ezra for being an adult role model for Aria and lets Aria know that she has praised their successful teacher-student relationship to the principal. At one point, during "The Perfect Storm," she even asks Ezra how Aria is doing since her separation from her husband, though unbeknownst to her, they are not on dating terms when she asks!

Later, in "If At First You Don't Succeed, Lie, Lie Again," "A" offers Hanna money her mom's money back, in exchange that she give Ella a ticket to an art gallery that Aria and Mr. Fitz are to attend. However, Caleb messes with the gears in her car after Hanna told him that she's trying to undo her action and stop Ella from arriving at the art gallery and exposing Aria and Ezra's relationship. Ella is frustrated with the car not working and calls Byron, since she cannot call AAA, as all their points are used up. The encounter threatens to lead to a fight until Byron offers her a ride. He drives her all the way to the gallery, but by the time they arrive, their relationship has been so much improved that Ella opts for a date with her husband instead.

In "The New Normal," while eating lunch in the main cafeteria with some of the other English teachers, she witnesses Paige McCullers' overbearing father accusing Emily of being treated unfairly. She is very impressed with Mr. Fitz' professional response to the situation and control. She shares that thought with her husband, Byron, only to make him jealously suspect Mr. Fitz of wooing his wife. This leads Byron to also misinterpret Ella's plans to attend a book event with Ezra, not realizing that the invitation is not exclusive; it includes the other English teachers as well. Eventually, Aria fills him in on this detail, and he stops suspecting that Ella has a crush on Ezra.

With that component no longer a concern, Ella's and Byron's relationship starts repairing itself, but Ella is reluctant to share the good news with her children, for fear of letting them think that everything is completely better, when she is not sure how she feels exactly. So, one night Byron sneaks out of the house to meet Ella without telling the children, having agreed to keep things under wraps for now. Aria, terrified that her father is having an extramarital affair again, follows him, only to find her parents having an intra-marital affair!

In "Someone to Watch Over Me," Ella receives a text message from Aria meant for Ezra that is clearly a flirting text, meant for a guy. She is totally unaware that the intended recipient is Ezra and guesses that it is Caleb, when she sees the "cute" boy sharing words with her daughter in the hallway. (Meanwhile, Caleb had approached Aria to speak on his behalf to Hanna.) When she confronts Aria about it, Aria gets scared and tells her mother it is a secret, who in turn, respects her daughter's privacy, trusts her, and deletes the text. It eventually leads to a fight between Ella and Byron, who feels insecure about Aria's secret relationship and pries in Aria's room, almost finding out the truth until Ella stops him in an argument, unknowingly overheard by Mike, their son, who is upset by the spat.

Aria and Mike had agreed to make dinner for the parents as a way to a family date night, but due to the argument, Ella cancels, leaving the three to eat dinner alone.

Season 2
In "It's Alive," Ella reports to Aria that she plans to move back into the house with the rest of the Montgomery family.

Later, when Mr. Fitz resigns from Rosewood High to teach at the local university, Ella, having recently joined the English department staff, is hired to teach in his stead, as a full time high school teacher. She is currently teaching her daughter's English class, which includes Aria's friends Spencer, Emily, and Hanna, along with her ex-boyfriend, Noel.

She has gone along with the rest of the Pretty Little Liars' parents and asked the girls to not see each other, in hopes that this will facilitate their healing from their supposed Alison trauma. Ella has an advantage over the other parents in enforcing their separation in the school hallways, where she can keep a close watchful eye on Aria. The separation is enforced in "It's Alive" and abolished in "The Devil You Know," after Ian is found dead.

Ella is later repentant about her role in splitting the girls up and especially upset by how unsuspecting she was of Ian. She recalls to Byron how they used to greet each other in Rosewood High. She is so distraught she washes perfectly clean laundry over in order to busy her troubled mind. Two episodes later, she visits Ashley after finally realizing that their daughters might be facing more threats than are normal for high school students, using the fashion show display as her barometer. Ashley lets Ella know that she regrets going along with Mr. and Mrs. Hastings suggestion to separate the girls and get them a therapist, and Ella agrees, but defends their decision as feeling like the right thing at the time.

In "Surface Tension," Ella and Byron plan a formal dinner party, signifying that their family life is returning to the way that it was pre-Meredith revelation. They invite Byron's colleagues at Hollis College, the Parthas, as well as Ezra and Jason. Mike doesn't show up, however, and they realize why when Officer Barry informs them that he has been arrested. When they go to pick up their arrested son from the station, Byron is verbally rough with his son, but Ella stops him, believing that they will learn more using a gentler approach.

In "Save the Date," Mike gets into a fight with one of his former friends and teammates at school. Ella swings by at just the right moment to split the two up. That night, she tries to unlock Mike's rationale, though at first he is non-communicative. At last, he harshly reveals that he is afraid that his mother is going to abandon the family again.

In "Touched by an 'A'-ngel," Ella gets professional advice from Dr. Sullivan for as to how to treat her son's teenage depression. Later that day, Ella sees Spencer in Ezra's car. At home, she takes her suspicions to Aria, who assures her that there is nothing between Spencer and Mr. Fitz. Still, Ella lets Aria know what she would think of such behavior on Ezra's part: that it would be an abuse of his position and a disappointment. She heads for the door, then turns, and on second thought, tells Aria that it would be worse: a betrayal.

Ella also asks Aria to discuss therapy with Mike and let him know how much she enjoyed it.

In "I Must Confess," Ella gets into a fight with Mike resulting in her wrist being injured. She initially tells Aria to keep it a secret from Byron, but after Aria reminds her parents how badly secrets threatened their family's dynamic once before, they open up. Mike is also repentant about his behavior towards his mother and talks openly to his parents for the first time in a while.

In "Over My Dead Body," Ella sees Ezra at the police station, and assuming he's there for Spencer, marches up to him and gives him a chance to leave, letting him know that she's onto him. Ezra is shocked and tries to stand his ground, telling Ella he loves "her," but when he realizes that Ella is referring to his relationship with Spencer, he becomes shocked. Whether or not he corrects her was not revealed until after the hiatus.

In "Through Many Dangers, Toils, and Snares," Ella acts coolly toward Spencer when she hands in her assignment. Then she breaks up a fight about to take place between Spencer and Emily. The next day, Ezra Fitz stands in her living room and confesses to being in love with her daughter. She is shocked to learn when their inappropriate relationship started and how long it has been going on. Ella shouts at Ezra, then tells Mike to go back upstairs.

Ella and Byron discuss what just transpired. Byron accuses Ella of knowing about this. She explains she thought she knew about Ezra and Spencer Hastings, but never gave him the chance to deny it. Byron declares the man is finished and Ella supposes he is right, but they have to consider what Aria may have been thinking when she got involved with Ezra, at a confusing time when she was still keeping the secret of her father's affair. Aria comes downstairs and asks them not to make a decision tonight, to consider for a moment that their relationship is real. They don't seem to accept this possibility. Ella can barely look at her. They send her back upstairs.

The next day, in "A Hot Piece of A," when Byron tells Aria to change her clothes, Ella steps in and tells Aria to pick her battles while choosing new clothes for her to wear. Aria had hoped perhaps Ella would be more accepting of her relationship with Ezra, but Ella is in agreement with Byron and forbids Aria from seeing, and even saying goodbye to, Ezra. She admits to having liked Ezra prior to his confession yesterday.

Ella gives Emily a makeup exam which Emily is unable to finish. Ella agrees to reschedule it for Monday after school. As Emily is leaving, Ella asks if there is anything else she doesn't know about her daughter, then apologizes for asking an unfair question. Emily answers anyway, saying Aria hasn't changed and is still someone Ella can be proud of.

Ella and Byron argue over what to do about the situation with Aria and Ezra. She wishes he hadn't gone to speak with him without her. She tells Byron that they cannot go to the police, much as they would like to, because it would ruin Aria's reputation. She is already considered a liar by many in town after the bell-tower incident and the recent arrest. They have to do whatever they can to protect their daughter. Byron can't argue with that.

Aria and her parents walk toward a restaurant in town for dinner, but stop short when they see Ezra through the window dining alone. Byron insists they go somewhere else and bickers with Ella about their earlier conversation.

Ella walks into Aria's room while she was presumably on the phone with Holden, making plans to see a movie, assuming she's not still grounded. Ella says maybe they can make an exception. She is as of yet unaware Aria was really leaving a voicemail for Ezra.

Season 3
In It Happened 'That Night', it is revealed Ella and Byron have gotten a divorce. Aria helps her move out, and she tells her daughter the divorce isn't her fault; she and Byron got married too young, and life became complicated. Eventually, they became different people.