Emmerdale's Roxanne Pallett now – real name, Big Brother scandal and horror crash

Roxanne Pallett rose to fame when she landed herself a part in Emmerdale back in 2005 and became a household name.

Her time playing Jo Stiles on the soap set her up for a promising future in showbiz and TV as she developed the character and eventually left the soap in 2009.

Over the years she was at the centre of several gripping storylines, including an illicit affair with Andy Sugden, faking a pregnancy, and enduring and eventually escaping an abusive relationship with her on-screen husband.

Jo was last seen on Emmerdale viewers’ screens in 2009 when she fled the village to escape the toxic grasp of her husband, Andy.

Since then she made appearances on several shows and even made her way to Hollywood – but her reality TV casting was where she found herself in hot water.

Celebrity Big Brother

After her stint in Emmerdale, Roxanne, 39, appeared in several reality TV series including Celebrity Stars In Their Eyes, Soapstar Superstar, Dancing On Ice and Celebrity Island With Bear Grylls.

However, her most notable appearance was Celebrity Big Brother in 2018 where she caused quite a stir in her 17 days in the house.

Roxanne – who was born Roxanne Kaboli-Nejad – reportedly received a healthy £750,000 payment for taking part in the show, but things got out of hand when she accused CBB housemate and Coronation Street star Ryan Thomas of punching her.

The pair were seen on screen play-fighting by viewers, with Roxanne at one point telling Ryan “that bloody hurt”, with him very quickly apologising.

However, she later spoke into her microphone saying: “I’ve just been beaten up by Corrie’s Jason Grimshaw. Big Brother that hurt.”

She then asked to be called into the Diary Room to air her concerns over the incident.

Roxanne then added to Big Brother later: “A boy has punched me repeatedly, unprovoked, completely deliberate. He actually punched me. Like a boxer would a bag! We weren’t play fighting. It wasn’t banter. It wasn’t a joke. There was no exchange.

“I can’t believe you’re letting someone stay who’s done that. It’s not okay!”

Ryan was later given a formal warning by Big Brother in traumatic scenes for viewers in which he was visibly upset by the accusations.

He responded: “From your point of view, yes (it’s unacceptable). I think we both know, and Roxanne knows, that there was no malice or hurt or anger in anything that I did during this time.

“But from your point of view, while doing this show, I’m sorry and I understand.”

The scenes sparked 25,000 complaints to Ofcom and a backlash against Roxanne with fans heard chanting “get Roxy out” at the next eviction.

She then quit after 17 days in the house, as Ryan’s partner Lucy Mecklenburgh spoke out to defend him and his brother Adam Thomas also criticised Roxanne for an interview she gave .

Career troubles

Roxanne’s career appeared to take a nose dive after her stint on CBB with her only TV appearances coming in the form of shows she had already pre-recorded – Celebrity Island With Bear Grylls and Celebrity Coach Trip early in 2019.

Her time on Celebrity Island was also cut short though as she quit after panicking about a camp fire which had reminded her of a blaze at her childhood home.

Prior to that, she had secured movie roles in big-name box office hits including Lake Placid, Wrong Turn 6: Last Resort, and Devil’s Tower.

She has remained out of the limelight for the past few years with no new projects in the pipeline.

Car crash

Roxanne was involved in a crash at a stock car race at Hunmanby Raceway in Yorkshire – however it was later claimed she exaggerated her injuries.

She was seen in video footage obtained by The Sun to have a low-speed collision, leaving the car with minimal damage.

The former actress was airlifted to hospital after she claimed she blacked out for 30 seconds following the crash, later saying she had “never felt pain like it” and felt her brain “rattling”.

But the organiser of the race alleged that she wasn’t as severely injured as she claimed, and used the bump as a way to raise her profile, as it took place shortly before she went on Celebrity Big Brother.

Roxanne’s rep said at the time: “Roxanne has never confirmed the speed she was travelling at when the crash occurred, it may have been reported but she never confirmed it.

“It would have been impossible for her to know her speed, as she was crashing. The only qualified and crucially impartial people present to assess Roxanne’s condition were the paramedics, who made the decision to airlift her to hospital.

“At the time of discussions and at the time of the race, Roxanne was not booked or in discussions for Celebrity Big Brother. There is evidence to support this which the Sun have been offered.”

Finding love

Roxanne was dating steelworker Lee Walton who she met online in late 2017 during her CBB stint after they met on Instagram through a shared appreciation of Elvis Presley.

The pair met in December 2017 for the first time and he asked her to move in with him a week later, proposing the day after she did.

However, the pair called it quits on their relationship very soon after she exited the Celebrity Big Brother house.

In November 2019, after relocating her life to the US, Roxanne got engaged to firefighter and former Married at First Sight star Jason Carrion.

Two months later on January 26, 2020, the pair got married at Lutheran Evangelical Church in New York.

The pair had met on the streets of New York City, and she previously told Closer: “I got out of a cab and there he was!

“An hour later we were having coffee, which turned into brunch, which led to a three-hour walk around Brooklyn. We shared stories we’d never told others – it was magic.

“I never thought I’d be smiling again.

“I’ve met the love of my life and I feel mentally stronger. I truly believe all the negativity I went through pushed me to this point. In a way, I’m grateful for all that went wrong, even though it was brutal. It was worth all the heartache because now I’m living my best life.”

In June 2021 she announced they were expecting their first baby together and had decided to name their son Maverick.

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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk