Emmerdale’s Vanessa Woodfield, played by Michelle Hardwick, is currently at the centre of a dramatic storyline as she threatens to expose Charity Dingle’s pregnancy secret.

In the popular ITV soap, Charity Dingle, portrayed by Emma Atkins, is facing a potential crisis this Christmas. She has confessed to her former lover Vanessa that she is not carrying Sarah Sugden (Katie Hill) and Jacob Gallagher’s (Joe-Warren Plant) baby as a surrogate, but fell pregnant naturally following a one-night stand with Ross Barton (Mike Parr).

However, Vanessa is unaware of Charity’s encounter with Ross and believes Mackenzie Boyd (Lawrence Robb) to be the father of the baby.

The tension escalates when Vanessa and Charity are compelled to spend Christmas Day together. As Vanessa becomes increasingly intoxicated over dinner, Charity grows anxious about what she might reveal.

Later, as Mack and Charity reflect on their day, the threat of exposure still hangs in the air. Will Vanessa spill the beans about Charity’s baby?

But who is Michelle Hardwick’s wife in real life?

Michelle Hardwick, 49, has been playing the role of village vet Vanessa since 2012, introduced as Frank Clayton’s (Michael Praed) daughter and Tracy Metcalfe’s (Amy Walsh) half-sister.

However, some fans may not know that Emmerdale is where Michelle met her real-life spouse, Kate Brooks, reports the Mirror.

Kate, an accomplished TV executive, previously served as a series producer on Emmerdale before taking up the role of producer on Coronation Street last year.

The couple revealed their romance in October 2018, coinciding with National Coming Out Day, through a heartwarming Instagram post.

Their engagement came about after Michelle orchestrated an unforgettable proposal involving a flash mob of The Greatest Showman cast members at their neighbourhood cinema.

Rather than opting for an extravagant celebrity wedding in Britain, they chose to keep their ceremony intimate, jetting off to Elvis Presley’s legendary Graceland estate in Memphis during September 2019.

Posting a photograph of herself alongside her new wife, both dressed in white whilst standing before Elvis Presley’s former residence, Graceland, Kate penned: “In over 100 degrees heat, on Tuesday 10th September, I became Mrs Brooks.”

Before exchanging vows, Michelle spoke openly with The Mirror in August 2019 regarding their relaxed wedding preparations, stating: “There’s no magazine deal, we’ll just pick up a few witnesses wherever we are and it will just be me and her.”

She continued: “We only have a few months to go and we haven’t even got our outfits sorted and that’s because it doesn’t matter. That’s the biggest lesson I learned.”

Michelle also revealed their unconventional vision for their special day: “We’ll get married abroad, hit a few bars, and probably have chicken and chips for our wedding breakfast. Then a big party for our family when we get back to England. That’s all I can tell you! It will be ace.”

The delighted pair have since welcomed two children into their family, a son called Teddy and a daughter named Betty.

Who was the first wife of Michelle Hardwick?

Michelle was in a relationship with her first wife, Rosie Nicholl, for three years before they tied the knot in 2015. The couple parted ways amicably a year later, and Michelle confessed that she didn’t inform her co-stars until they noticed she was no longer wearing her wedding ring.

In an interview with the Daily Star, she revealed: “Unfortunately, Rosie and I did split last year but are still good friends. It was one of those things where we did drift apart. We had a big fairytale wedding and I still love that day, it was brilliant.

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“It’s just really sad and one of those things that happens. We still have our dogs which we’ll share and nobody else was involved, it just happened and it was a mutual decision. I don’t know how else to explain it.”

Before securing the role of Vanessa in Emmerdale, Michelle had significant roles in Heartbeat and Coronation Street. In the ITV soap, the Leeds-born actress portrayed two different characters – Sheila Dixon in 1997 and Naomi Russell in 1998.

However, one of her most prominent roles was as Lizzie Hopkirk in The Royal – a spin-off from Heartbeat. She also had a minor role in Hollyoaks.