Away from the TV sets and soap, Emmerdale star Michael Parr’s love life has often made the headlines.
Michael Parr is a firm favourite playing Ross Barton on Emmerdale – but what do we know about his love life?
The actor shot to fame when he joined the ITV soap as Ross. And it’s fair to say it didn’t take him long to become a firm favourite with fans.
Ross has also been involved in several big moments too. From surviving a horrific acid attack to his 2024 return featuring illegal boxing, his time in the Dales has not been short of drama.
The character’s had his fair share of romances too on the soap, including a recent one-night stand with Charity Dingle (Emma Atkins) that ended up with her getting pregnant.
Away from the soap though, actor Michael’s love life has often made the headlines. But which one of his Emmerdale stars did he previously date? And why did his proposal to his new girlfriend nearly end in disaster?
Michael’s romance with Emmerdale co-star
A couple years after he joined the show, Michael started dating Isabel Hodgins – who plays Victoria Sugden – in secret. The pair kept their romance relatively low-key, rarely sharing pictures of each other on social media.
In 2016 though, they went Instagram official. Michael also shared a gushing post about Isabel to celebrate her birthday. He wrote: “Happy 24th birthday to this little one. Who woulda thought that 5’2 (and a half) could pack so much love, devotion and attitude.
“Thank you for being the most wonderful and caring best friend a boy could ask for. Love you to the moon and back. X.”
Michael and Isabel’s split
However, fast forward to 2019 and Michael and Isabel split after three years, following Mike’s exit from Emmerdale to try and crack America. Isabel meanwhile remained on the soap.
A source at the time told The Sun: “They drifted apart and felt it was better to be mates. He has been throwing himself into his social life and has just been on a lads’ hol and she is focusing on work, they’re both young and want to follow their dreams. They had a meaningful relationship and they’ll remember the good times.”
Michael’s new romance
Following his split from Isabel, Michael found love in 2023 with Isabelle Du Plessis after meeting on dating app Hinge.
Going from strength to strength, the pair welcomed their first child in September 2025, a daughter Suzie Rose Par. Taking to Instagram, Isabelle uploaded a string of photographs and introduced her daughter Suzie to the world. Proud father Michael was beaming as he held his little daughter in one arm in a photo.
Then earlier this year, Michael decided to ask Isabelle to marry him. The couple were visiting Issi’s family in South Africa when Michael quietly began planning his proposal, although things didn’t go entirely to plan.
“We were going on safari,” he explained to The Mirror. He added: “I said to her family, ‘If we see elephants or giraffes at the watering hole, I’ll take that as the sign to pop the question.'”
“I had no idea at all,” laughed. At one point, Michael tried to steer her towards the perfect setting. She said: “He kept asking me to go on this bushwalk and I was like, ‘I’ve done bushwalks before. I’m not that into it, but I think you should go.'”
Michael then said: “You were literally stopping your own proposal.”
Emmerdale airs Monday to Friday at 8:00pm on ITV1 and ITVX
