Cecelia Tremaine is a character in Once Upon a Time. She was the mother of Ella Mills (the second iteration of Cinderella), the mother-in-law of Henry Mills and grandmother of Henry Mills. She débuts, with her only appearance, in the ninth episode of the seventh season and is portrayed by guest star Cindy Luna.
Cecelia is based on Cinderella's mother from the fairytale "Cinderella", and the Disney film Cinderella.
History[]
At one point, Cecelia has a daughter, named Ella, from a previous relationship. She becomes the second wife of Marcus Tremaine after his first wife's disappearance. Cecelia grows close to her two stepdaughters, Anastasia and Drizella, loving them as if they were her own. For their wedding, Marcus givs Cecelia a magical locket, that glows, which is powered by their true lov for one another.
Though the family was happy, Cecelia's heart was poisoned by a jealous Rapunzel after drinking one of the lavender lemonades at Drizella's party and separated herself from her husband and children to protect them. She encountered and befriended Alice at a tea party in Wonderland, where Cecelia revealed that her heart is poisoned and was running away to protect her family. Alice is able to relate to this, because her father suffers the same curse she does
Suddenly, a Jabberwocky attacked. Though she fought valiantly, Cecelia was killed defending Alice and a group of party-goers at a tea in Wonderland. After Marcus searched for his wife for a year, his locket stopped glowing, leading him to believe that Cecelia had given up loving him. The events caused Ella to grow up disillusioned with the notion of true love and happy endings
At first cold towards her mother's death, Alice revealed to Ella that her mother was cursed with the same spell as her father was: The Curse of the Poisoned Heart. In the end, Ella learned that her mother never stopped loving them. The revelation caused her to give a relationship with Henry a chance.