Monday, 7 April 2008

Emmerdale's Roxanne Pallett Confesses: My ex-boyfriend hit me

Soap star Roxanne Pallett talks exclusively to NOW about being in an abusive relationship and explains why she’s now happy to be single

Roxanne Pallett has made the shock revelation that she was beaten up by a former boyfriend – just like her Emmerdale character.

Roxanne, 25 – whose alter ego Jo Sugden has been battered by husband Andy – revealed last week that she was abused by an ex and found it hard to act out her recent domestic violence scenes. ‘I was in an abusive relationship for too long,’ she tells NOW. ‘It was only when my mum found out that I finally thought: “This is it, I can either continue in this spiral or I can get out.”

‘I’m a strong character, so if it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone. People often don’t want to know if the woman at the office has got a bruise or seems a bit on edge. This subject needs to be brought into the open.’

Roxanne admits that she found tackling her emotional storyline tough: ‘Filming such intense scenes does take its toll. Myself and Kelvin [Fletcher, who plays Andy] have been working all hours and we’re only experiencing a fraction of the emotional exhaustion victims suffer each day.’

Her draining scenes mean that, for now, love’s off limits for Roxanne, who split with ex-Coronation Street actor Richard Fleeshman (who’s not the person accused of abuse) last October.

The single star denies rumours linking her with co-star James Baxter (who plays Jake) and footballer Danny Simpson: ‘Those rumours are completely inaccurate. I’m not dating anyone!’

Her biggest desire is that more women will ask for help: ‘Once you find the courage to talk about it, you can find the strength to seek help and get out. Refuge has a 24-hour helpline.’

By Karen Dunn