Coronation Street star Shelley King first arrived on the cobbles in 2013 as Yasmeen Nazir, and in 2020, her character was involved in a harrowing abuse storyline, with Shelley saying that the story has since helped to “change lives.”
Outside of the street, Shelley lives with her partner Trilby James and said to OK! magazine that it was difficult watching the episodes back.
She said: “it’s difficult to watch your partner going through these things. Some of it is so difficult to watch.
“I hate watching myself so sometimes Trilby will watch it and then I watch it the next morning by myself.”
The couple have been together for over 20 years, and outside of the cobbles, Yasmeen star Shelley has spoken about coming out as gay and their life together during lockdown.
Life before Corrie
Before appearing on Coronation Street, Shelley already had a hugely successful acting career dating all the way back to the seventies.
She first appeared as Jay Harper in the TV series Angels from 1978-1980, before landing huge roles in drama series such as Silent Witness and BBC’s Atlantis in 2013.
Younger viewers may also recognise her from the cult children’s classic The Demon Headmaster, where she regularly played a hospital nurse in the 1996 series.
Changing lives
Following the harrowing coercive abuse line in Coronation Street, which saw her character Yasmeen become a victim of abuse from her ex-husband Geoff Metcalfe, Shelley was given the TRIC award for best soap actor.
Accepting the award, she explained how the storyline had helped to “change lives”.
She said: “I am so proud of being part of this storyline about coercive abuse and I know, I’ve heard from so many people that it has changed so many people’s lives and made them aware there is help out there.”
Shelley added in her speech: “Thank you to Iain MacLeod for letting me become a part of this storyline and for letting it actually develop over nearly three years, which in soap time is mega!
“And for all the directors and script writers and Johnny Harvey, who I first met in his first play many, many years ago.”
Finding love
(Image: WireImage)
Shelley is currently in a relationship with her partner, the actor and director Trilby James, who has starred in programmes including Poirot and Casualty.
Though Shelley has not revealed how the couple met, she has said in an essay for Metro that after meeting Trilby, she decided to come out as gay at the age of 42.
Talking about her own experience of coming out, she said: “I want to tell other people considering coming out to never be afraid of who you are.”
She explained that growing up, not seeing lesbians represented in the media was damaging and that the in the 70s, “nothing I stumbled across seemed to have a happy ending.”
Shelley added that working in the industry growing as a young adult she had “self-destructive crushes on women who would never return the feelings,” and that although she tried to have relationships with men, she “had no emotional connection and it only ended up hurting them.”
She and Trilby are in a civil partnership and currently live in London, with Shelley calling Trilby her soulmate.
Petrol head passion
(Image: WireImage)
Outside of acting, Shelley has revealed that one of her biggest passions is for motor sports and cars, telling OK! magazine: “I’m a big petrol head and I’m missing my cars at the moment. I have four.”
Her other hobbies including going on walks with partner Trilby, something that helped her to cope with the lockdown in 2020.
She said: “We are very lucky to be together, to get out for our one walk. We also have a balcony we can go out on.”
However she did admit that she is terrible at using social media, saying: “I’m terrible at Facebook and Twitter and our computer is so old, so I’ve ordered a new one and we’re going to have some IT lessons.”
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
