Lillian came from a wealthy family. How she met Lionel is unclear, but they were married sometime before the 1980s. By all accounts she was a caring, beautiful, and sophisticated person, and comments made by Lionel and Lex have indicated that she had a spirited personality, had ambitions of her own, and stood up to Lionel.Eventually, she began to wonder about the special projects that Lionel had, Lillian searched for answers and found something called Veritas . However, Lex, saw her going through his briefcase and she asked him not to tell anyone. When Lionel found out, he immediately blamed Lex and practically forced him to tell the truth. When Lex did, Lillian insisted Lionel explain what Veritas was, but Lionel knocked her to the floor instead and warned not to look into his projects again. Lillian felt angered and disgusted by Lex's betrayal.Sometime when Lex was a small child, she became ill with a heart condition that worsened over the rest of her life. Lionel hired a nurse named Rachel Dunleavy to assist her. Rachel and Lionel subsequently had an affair, resulting in the birth of Lionel's illegitimate son, Lucas. It is unclear whether Lillian knew of the affair or the child.Lillian was helped by a nanny, Pamela Jenkins. Lex regarded Pamela as a second mother. Lionel was often absent from home and Lillian insisted that he take Lex on one of his business trips, to Smallville during the meteor shower of 1989. Lionel's resulting shame and constant critique of Lex bothered Lillian greatly.Sometime in the early 1990s, Lionel insisted that they have another child, an idea that Lillian was highly opposed to, presumably because of her poor health. However, when Lex was 11, she became pregnant again. She insisted that Lex be allowed to come home for school from boarding school, Excelsior, and Lionel complied. Her pregnancy was strenuous and she was bedridden for much of it. On Lex's disastrous twelfth birthday (which no one attended), she gave him a lead box allegedly made from the armor of St. George, which Lex kept into adulthood and which was later given to Clark Kent. After baby Julian's birth, Lillian descended into a deep case of postpartum depression, refusing to hold the child and crying perpetually. One evening, Lionel sent the baby's nanny home and insisted that Lillian bond with the child. Lillian expressed her concern that Lionel will pit the two boys against each other and announced that she wanted a divorce, a threat that she apparently made many times and that Lionel called tiresome. After receiving experimental therapy to recall repressed memories, that Lex remembered that Lillian smothered the baby Jillian during one of her delusions, hoping to spare him from Lionel's maltreatment. . On returning home from work one night, Lionel discovered Lex in the baby's nursery. Lex took the blame, immediately apologizing and saying he accidentally killed Julian while trying to stop him from crying. Lex was correctly assuming that his father would cover it up in order to protect his sole heir, although he would probably be less inclined to do so for his wife. Lionel erupted into a fierce rage and struck Lex. Their relationship never recovered, even after Lex became an adult. Show less «