Emma Frost was born into a wealthy old Boston mercantile family that arrived from England in the 1600s.

The second of three daughters, Emma also had an older brother named Christian who had turned to substance abuse as an escape from the drudgery of his life. Unknown to their family or themselves, the three Frost sisters were mutants whose telepathic abilities matured upon reaching puberty.

Emma Frost possesses telepathic abilities of a similar, or slightly lower, caliber to those of Charles Xavier, over which she had an extremely refined level of skill. Frost has been cited as a "World-class telepath "Omega Class Telepath"and a "Psi of the Highest Order" capable of extraordinary telepathic feats. When Wolverine thought to be protected from her thanks to Level 9 Psi-Shields created by Charles Xavier, she stated she was herselfLevel 10.Her abilities have been stated to rival that of Charles Xavier himself, and this statement only proven in her telepathic defeat of Professor Xavier. Additionally, she has also been referred to as a "psi of the highest order," been ranked among the five most skilled telepaths on the planet, has demonstrated the ability to stalemate Exodus, and overcome telepaths, such as Nate Grey, Kid Omega, and Rachel Summers, through greater power, experience and skill.