Zoe Henry has revealed who she puts before her husband Jeff Hordley as she opened up on her current Emmerdale storyline which is pulling on the heartstrings of viewers.
As Emmerdale fans know, Zoe plays village vet Rhona Goskirk and Jeff portrays hard man Cain Dingle.
While their characters rarely cross paths on the ITV soap, the couple have been married since 2003 and share two children named Violet and Stan.
At the moment, Rhona is part of a hard-hitting storyline surrounding a young baby called Ivy. Rhona wants to be part of the baby’s life as she was made using her embryos, but legally, she may have no rights.
Rhona’s ex-husband Gus (played by Alan McKenna) used the embryos with his current wife, who sadly died during childbirth, so he is trying to raise baby Ivy while he’s grieving.
Zoe discussed the complicated storyline with Express.co.uk and other publications in the build-up to Christmas where she reflected on being a mother to Violet, 19, and Stan.
She shared: “I was talking to Jeff actually, my husband, the other day about [the storyline].”
Zoe said when Violet was a six-week-old baby she visited a car showroom with Jeff and the staff wanted to show the women in the office the newborn.
Zoe agreed, and the staff member carried Violet in her car seat to walk off to see her colleagues.
“And I was like, ‘Oh my God’, I don’t know what I thought she would do but I was pacing up and down the door like a caged tiger waiting for my baby to come back out.
“And I suppose that’s the only sort of experience I can draw on where I can say that.”
She said Rhona “just wants to hold” baby Ivy as she feels so connected to her, even though she froze her eggs some 15 years ago.
Zoe, 50, added: “And for my husband in my real life, my kids come before any anything else, you know.
“And I go back to that primal instinct and I think that’s what Rhona has. It does impact their relationship and marriage [to Marlon Dingle].”
Rhona and her husband Marlon Dingle (Mark Charnock) are spending Christmas with baby Ivy and Gus – but what will happen after the festive period draws to a close?
Emmerdale airs on weeknights at 7.30pm on ITV and ITVX.