Emmerdale's Fiona Wade takes aim at Priya: 'I know how it feels to be cheated on'

fiona wade

Actress Fiona Wade says she's been cheated on in the past and couldn't do what her Emmerdale character Priya has been doing

Emmerdale star Fiona Wade says that despite playing the other woman in the ITV soap, she could never have an affair in real life because of her own devastating experiences of being cheated on.

Fiona plays Priya Kotecha, who has betrayed her best friend Leyla Harding (Roxy Shahidi) by starting a steamy affair with her boyfriend Pete Barton (Anthony Quinlan).

But the actress said that she had been in Leyla’s position in the past, and could never do that to someone else.

Emmerdale

Priya has come between Pete and Leyla (Amy Brammall/ITV)

 

She told the Daily Mirror: “I think women should stick together and honour each other, have that girl power thing.

“We should think about how other people feel.

“I’m in my 30s now, and along the way I’ve been cheated on and it is probably the worst feeling in the world.”

Emmerdale Priya

Priya has been having an affair with her best friend’s man (ITV)

 

Fiona added that one former boyfriend had come clean about his cheating, but another had never admitted it although she still knew what he had done.

She said: “A woman always knows and I trust my instinct as a woman very strongly.

“Whether it comes out or not, as a woman, if you feel like you know there has been a betrayal, and even if you might not know all the details, it still hurts.”

Emmerdale Leyla, Priya and Pete

Leyla, Priya and Pete are caught in a love triangle (Amy Brammall/ITV)

 

Talking about her character’s storyline, Fiona said that she thought going behind a friend’s back made the affair even worse.

She said: “I put trust above everything, so I don’t really see how I’d be able to have a friendship after that.

“That would be the ultimate betrayal, it would be horrendous, there would be no going back.”

Emmerdale Pete

Anthony Quinlan plays Pete Barton (ITV)

 

Fiona added that she had found filming the scenes a little awkward as she did not know Anthony very well.

She said: “We haven’t really worked together at all, so it is quite funny because suddenly you have to do these really intimate scenes.

“He is a really lovely guy, and we were very nervous doing the kissing scenes.”

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 


An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.