Emmerdale's Lisa Riley reflects on 9 years of being sober
Emmerdale's Lisa Riley, known for her role as Mandy Dingle, has had an on-and-off screen presence in the soap for nearly 30 years.
Despite Mandy's tumultuous romantic escapades over the past 28 years, it seems Lisa's own love life has been equally turbulent.
In her revealing 2013 autobiography, 'Never Judge A Book By Its Cover', Lisa delves into her chaotic romantic encounters, from a former lover who came out as gay to her own affair with a married man.
Lisa shares a candid anecdote in her book about her time living with her best mate Darren, whom she "fancied like crazy". After a boozy night, they crossed the line and became "friends with benefits", although Lisa yearned for something more substantial.
Her hopes were dashed when she caught Darren in a passionate embrace with another man at a club, and he eventually found himself a boyfriend.
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Next, Lisa was charmed by Lee Cooper, never suspecting how "how a guy on a waiter's salary could afford Gucci shoes". A shocking revelation came 10 months into their romance when Lee admitted he was embroiled in fraud allegations.
Following his confession, he received a prison sentence of three and a half years, leaving Lisa to recount in her memoir how her "whole world fell apart" and "everything crumbled".
During the festive season of 2002, while performing in a pantomime in Swansea, Lisa struck up a conversation with set painter Nick Holly.
In her book, she candidly reveals that he "wasn't exactly an oil painting" and was nearly a decade her senior.
Nick confessed to Lisa that he was a married man with children, but she admits in her book that she found the situation "ashamed to say I found the situation a little bit naughty and exciting".
Despite their best efforts to maintain their relationship outside of the Panto environment, things didn't work out for the couple and they eventually parted ways.
Lisa met American musician Al in 2014 through mutual friends. Four years into their relationship, Al proposed, but the couple are not in any hurry to walk down the aisle.
She is quite private about her partner, not even disclosing his last name in public, although she frequently mentions him in interviews and recently shared a loved snap on Instagram back in 2023 from their trip to New York.
In a 2020 interview with the Mirror, the actress referred to her fiance as her husband, saying: "I already call him my husband and he calls me his wife. We just haven't gone down the aisle and got the ring and the paperwork. In the six years we've been together, we've never spent as much time together as we have this year and we still love each other."
Emmerdale airs weeknights on ITV1 and ITVX at 7.30pm
