In a show where “liars” is literally in the title, we still find ourselves getting shocked by the truths uncovered in Pretty Little Liars. Over seven seasons, we’ve found out that not only are these five girls complete liars, but pretty much everyone in the town of Rosewood is full of it. From fake deaths to affairs to pretending to have disabilities, here are 15 of the biggest lies that Pretty Little Liars has ever told us.
1. Who Spencer’s Parents Are
Early into PLL, we learn that Spencer’s dad had an affair with Jessica DiLaurentis and that Jason is actually Spencer’s half brother. But the secrets don’t stop there. We learn in the midseason finale of season 7 that Spencer is actually the child of Mary Drake, Jessica’s twin sister. This makes Charlotte Spencer’s sister. We still don’t have confirmation that Peter Hastings is actually Spencer’s father. At this point, it could be someone as random as Byron with the amount of lies being told to us about Spencer’s parentage.
2. Charlotte’s Existence
The reveal of A was a big one in the show and it came with its own string of complicated lies. These lies date all the way back to the Liars’ early childhood, as it turns out that Alison had a second brother at one point who was sent away to Radley. That little brother grew up to become Charlotte, someone who was hidden from Alison her entire life. Jessica kept her second-born a secret from the whole town and from her other children. But again, the lies don’t stop there. When we find out that Charlotte was actually the daughter of Mary Drake, it turns out she and Alison weren’t sisters, but cousins.
3. Aria’s Affair with a Teacher
Aria and Ezra began hooking up before they even knew he would be her teacher. Well, at least before Aria knew. It turns out that Ezra knew all along, but we’ll get into that later. The lie at hand here is this affair the two of them kept from everyone for a long time. Not only did Aria lie to her parents and the school, but to her closest friends as well. That web spun out of control, as the lie was discovered by many people, all of whom then had to join in on hiding it from the school.
4. Caleb’s Letter
Caleb’s apology/love letter to Hanna could have patched up their relationship almost immediately. But of course, Mona had to step in. When Hanna didn’t want to see Caleb, he gave Mona this letter to pass along to her, apologizing for lying to her. What does Mona do? She throws it out and lies to Hanna herself, pretending no such letter even came. Poor Hanna had to think that Caleb left town without so much as a goodbye, let alone an apology.
5. Ashley’s Theft from an Old Lady
Desperate times call for desperate measures. When money was tight with the Marins, matriarch Ashley had to compromise her morals and steal cash from an old woman’s safe deposit box in order to pay some bills. That woman ended up dying, and Ashley justified the theft after catching a con man who posed as woman’s nephew to collect her money. Just because someone else wanted to do it too doesn’t justify the theft or the lies, Mrs. Marin.
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6. Byron’s Affair
Cheating on your wife is bad enough. But when you get caught by your daughter and rope her into the lie too, you’ve got some serious issues. There was no excuse for Byron to make his poor daughter lie to her own mother for such a long time about what she saw Byron doing with his colleague in the backseat of his car. Lying definitely runs in the Montgomery family.
7. Caleb Spying on Hanna for Jenna
Just as Hanna finally thought she found someone she could trust, she discovered the truth about Caleb. He had been hired by Jenna to bug Hanna’s phone and find out all of her and the Liars’ dirty little secrets. This betrayal broke Hanna’s heart, and even though Caleb had truly fallen for Hanna after his deal with Jenna, the damage had been done. Caleb should have been upfront about the whole situation with Hanna as soon as he realized how much he liked her.
8. The Coverup of Archer’s Murder
Elliot Rollins aka Archer Dunhill may have been a monster, but that doesn’t excuse the huge coverup the Liars did after accidentally killing him. Granted, this wasn’t the first time the Liars have killed someone, but how smoothly and quickly they were able to make it go away was a little unsettling. No police report, a buried body and a quickly fixed windshield, and presto. It’s like the murder didn’t happen. Just another day in Rosewood.
9. The Jenna Thing
The Jenna thing is one of the oldest and most classic lies in Pretty Little Liars history. Basically, the Liars were responsible for blinding Jenna, a secret that bonded the girls, and one that was even kept by Toby and Jenna. In reality, the fault is with Alison. She was the one responsible for the fire which blinded Jenna and she forced everyone else to go along with the lie that it was an accident. What makes this lie so big is that she actually got the victims to lie about it too. Only a DiLaurentis could pull off something like that.
10. Ezra’s Secret Novel
Ezra started to get a little suspect in PLL and the Liars suspected him of being A. That fear got legitimized when they discovered his secret lairs full of surveillance. Turns out, Ezra wasn’t A, but he was spying on the girls. He had an interest in them and their story before he even met Aria, because he wanted to write a novel about them. He admitted to her that their meeting wasn’t just happenstance, but planned. So not only did he meet her under false pretenses, he knew she was underage when they first hooked up.
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11. Jenna’s Blindness
Jenna picked up the lying bug early on. She started with her threats to Toby to try to force him into loving her, and escalated to pretending to be blind. Yes, Jenna was blind at one point. But after corrective surgery ended up working, she pretended that it didn’t so that she could watch the way people acted around her when they thought she couldn’t see anything. Jenna’s never been particularly moral, but pretending to be blind takes the cake.
12. Melissa’s Pregnancy
It was shocking to discover that Melissa was actually never even pregnant with Ian’s baby. It was even more shocking when we found out that their parents actually went along with it. Melissa was pregnant at one point, before Alison went missing. She and Ian actually went to Cape May to abort the baby, but ended up losing it before they even got there. You would think the trauma from this would make her want to avoid the subject altogether, but Melissa still pulled off lying about being pregnant a second time.
13. Ezra’s Son
Poor Ezra. It’s hard enough to find out you were lied to and your ex has a love child you knew nothing about. That in itself took some adjusting for the guy. But then, after getting attached to the boy, he had to discover that it wasn’t even his kid. His girlfriend had a one-night-stand which resulted in someone else’s kid. Ezra’s son caused a rift in his and Aria’s relationship, eventually breaking them up, and it wasn’t even worth it.
14. Spencer’s Drug Problem
Spencer has always been the overachieving, hard-working, neurotic one in the group. Little did we know, she had a dark secret. The way Spencer dealt with the crazy inside her and all the stress she and her family put on her was by taking drugs to help her focus. A lot of students practice this unhealthy habit, but that didn’t make it any less shocking to discover that the seemingly perfect Spencer Hastings was popping pills.
15. The Death of Alison
Alison’s death affected nearly everyone, whether positively or negatively. For such a long time, her family and closest friends had to deal with what it meant to lose her so unexpectedly and with no explanation. Then they found out she’s been alive the whole time. She faked everything and put the people she loved most through emotional hell for over a year.
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Which do you think was the biggest lie ever told on Pretty Little Liars? Are there more that you would add to the list? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Pretty Little Liars season 7 returns on Tuesday, April 18 on Freeform. For more news, follow our Pretty Little Liars page on Facebook.
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Contributing Writer, BuddyTV