Content Warning: This article discusses violence and substance abuse.
Raunchy, loud, and shocking, Shameless kept audiences on their toes with every illicit activity that Fiona and the other Gallagher siblings did to keep their heads above water. Frank was the clear shameless ringleader on the criminal front, but the Southside family and their friends Kev, V, and the Milkoviches were almost always embroiled in drama of some kind, which usually involved big secrets.
Surviving in poverty was no easy job for the characters of Shameless, and they hid many important things from each other or lied about them for their own benefit. Some secrets were kept just because they were too nasty to be revealed, although that usually did happen at the end.
Jimmy's Real Identity
Jimmy, better known as Steve was definitely one of Fiona's great loves, but he lied to her right from the beginning. Jimmy Lishman shamelessly kept his family background a secret - he had been in medical school but dropped out to pursue a "more exciting" life of car theft and sundry unsavory crimes.
He even lied about his name, where he was from (he lied about being from the South side), and forgot to mention to Fiona that he was married to Estefania, the daughter of a Brazilian drug dealer, while he was dating her.
Dottie's Heart Transplant
In another harebrained scheme of Frank's to make money without actually working, he gets together with Dottie, a local girl who had a damaged heart and was waiting on a transplant. Dottie was going to die soon, so he pretended to love her so she could leave everything to him.
However, a call from the hospital threw a wrench in his plans as a heart transplant suddenly became available for Dottie. Since she was showering, only Frank knew about the phone call, and he never told Dottie about the transplant that could have saved her life. In fact, he had sex with her till her heart gave way and she never knew.
The Existence Of Sammi
In season 4, Frank was in dire need of a new liver to replace his existing one which was ruined by alcohol. When Fiona refused to donate her liver, he revealed to her that he had another, illegitimate, older daughter called Sammi, whom he had had with Queenie Slott years ago and abandoned.
This revelation astounded Fiona, of course, and also added another member to the Gallagher household overnight. Sammi was unstable and got Ian arrested, tried to shoot Mickey and Frank both, but she had her moments of joy with the family too.
The Ownership Of the Alibi Room
In a surprising turn of events on Shameless, Kev and V decided to form a "throuple" with the shrewd Russian Svetlana. Their polyamorous relationship was great till the time they realized what Svetlana had been using them for and hiding from them.
Under the guise of love and companionship, they had handed the books of The Alibi Room over to Svetlana, who had cleverly changed the ownership of the bar to her own name, which was a shocker for trusting Kev and V when they found out.
Ian's Affair With Kash
In the very first episode of Shameless, Ian is seen grappling with his sexuality, but also reveling in it by dating a married man. Lip found out that Ian was involved with the corner store owner Kash, where he was also working.
Kash and Ian later got caught by his wife Linda while they were having sex in the store, but nobody from the Gallaghers knew about this until Lip found out and questioned Ian, who was only about fifteen years old at the time.
Aunt Ginger's Death
A collective Gallagher family secret that they kept from the feds, this one was up there with the most indecent thing somebody could do. The real Aunt Ginger had passed away twelve long years ago, and her body was in their backyard, but Frank had continued to cash in her checks from the government.
However, they were tipped off that Ginger may be dead, and the government wanted to see and interview Ginger for themselves. To keep the flow of checks intact, Debbie borrowed a fake Aunt Ginger from the old age home where Veronica worked, and the secret of Ginger's death stayed safe.
Fiona's Affair With Robbie
Mike was perhaps one of Fiona's most genuine partners, but she got impulsive as usual and ended up having sex with his shady brother Robbie while Mike was passed out after a family dinner. Fiona kept this dalliance a secret from Mike and continued to hook up with his brother, who also got her horribly involved in cocaine.
The secret was divulged by Robbie himself to Mike, which ended badly for Fiona, who was now unemployed, saddled with an addiction, and a bag of coke that lands Liam in hospital, and her in jail.
Mandy's Murder Attempt
Mandy Milkovich had a soft heart, but she was also a frightening lady when she wanted to be. She had a rough start, and she tackled things with a shrewdness which was shocking. Her feelings for Lip made her act out a bunch, but the time that she premeditated Karen's murder was perhaps the most terrifying.
She used Lip's phone to message Karen to meet her, whom she then mowed down with her SUV. Mandy never disclosed that it was her who ran over Karen, leaving her permanently disabled, but Mickey knew that she had run over somebody when she was cleaning blood off of her car, and Lip had a clue.
The Father Of Ingrid's Children
When Frank's girlfriend Ingrid wanted to have children in season 9, he was over the moon, but his alcohol and drug abuse had lowered his sperm count to virtually nothing. Shameless Frank then went and bribed Carl to fill the donor's cup with his semen, and gave that to the doctors to inseminate Ingrid's eggs with.
Ingrid was going to have sextuplets, which she later reduced to twins. Carl only found out that he was the father of the twins in season 10 via an overheard conversation, which was quite messed up.
Sean's Drug Addiction
Owner of Patsy's Pies, Sean Pierce had a big secret - he was addicted to heroin, which had led him to kill somebody while under the influence. When Fiona and he became lovers, he claimed that he was no longer using and well into recovery. Up until their wedding day, Sean kept tight to his chest the fact that he was still using, and was unstable because of that.
Frank was the one who unveiled Sean's reality to Fiona on the day of the wedding, which was a huge betrayal of trust as he was marrying her under false pretenses and probably would not have told her the truth anytime soon.