Ethel is the former foster child of Kevin and Veronica, after she was removed from a predatory marriage with a 65-year old man named Clyde.
She has four other sister-wives via Clyde and is later discovered to have had a child in the marriage, Jonah, whom Kevin and Veronica also take care of. Initially, Ethel struggles to fit in with her new surroundings, but soon warms up to Kevin and Veronica as well as the Gallaghers. While at Kevin's basketball game, she meets Malik. They bond over them both having children. She later ends up stealing Kevin's marijuana to get money and run away with Malik, her son Jonah, and Malik's daughter Tamika.
After she runs away, despite being mentioned a few times, she's never seen or heard of again and her fate is ultimately unknown.