Former Coronation Street star Catherine Tyldesley has opened up about being being parted from her family while working abroad. Cath, who played Corrie favourite Eva Price, landed a dream role in a TV drama earlier this month that would see her filming on location for three months.
The doting mum-of-two was recently reunited with her husband Tom, their seven-year-old son Alfie and baby daughter Iris, who they welcomed in April. And today (Sunday August 21) she shared her emotions at saying goodbye to them again. "I’ve just had to wave goodbye to my beautiful family again," she wrote in a frank Instagram post.
"They were supposed to stay out here longer but the heat is too much for the children. There’s never a balance with work - we are used to that," she explained. "Sometimes mummy and daddy work away- that’s how it is. And sometimes we are blessed with weeks and weeks at home too."
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Catherine, from Walkden, went on to praise her photographer husband Tom Pitfield, who is the co-founder of Brood magazine for professionals juggling working life with raising their brood. She said: "But I have to tell you how INCREDIBLE my husband is. The greatest, most selfless man I know.
"Holding our family together and moving his own commitments to help support me in mine. You will never find a more genuine heart than my Tom’s.
"I hope you know how much we love you @tompitfieldphotography and how eternally grateful we are. In our wedding vows we promised 'to support each other’s dreams- because it is through our dreams that our souls truly shine'…You have gone above and beyond and you are my hero."
She added: "I’m going to miss you all like crazy my beautiful family. Counting down the days!!! Mummy is gonna kick ass! Promise." And supportive messages came flooding in including from former Corrie co-star and fellow mum Paula Lane who reassured her: "You got this love."
Former Hollyoaks actress Sophie Austin, who has two children with Cath's former co-star Shayne Ward who played Eva's fiancé Aidan Connor, said: "Sending my love to you , you are smashing it." And Cath's Strictly Come Dancing professional partner Johannes Radebe cheered: "Go team. Xx"
Helen Flanagan, the soap's Rosie Webster, posted a love heart emoji and kirsty_henshaw told her: "Relationship goals right there. Supporting each other’s dreams and raising two beautiful children. Love these posts Cath. Men don’t get nearly enough credit for being amazing daddy’s and we should be able to fulfil our career aspirations without being made to feel guilty."
Speaking to Brood magazine about leading by example in accepting the role, by showing her children that they should follow their dreams, she said: "It’s hard, I almost feel like two different people, because there is career Cath who is incredibly ambitious, extremely self-motivated and very driven, and so I’m always determined to fulfil my goals. Failure isn’t an option. And I love my job. My job is my happy place.
"But then on the flip side being a mum is my happy place too and it’s ok to want to have both of those things! There’s never a true balance, so there is no point trying to get that. I think I have to remember that sometimes I’m with them [the children] and sometimes I’m not, that’s just how it is.
"But I get to see my children more than most ‘9-5’ people, so although I might work away for a couple of months here and there, in between jobs I have a lot of downtime and that is always spent with my kids and my husband, so in a lot of ways we’re very lucky."
Cath, who played Eva in Corrie from 2011 to 2018 and went on to play Karen Norris in the BBC One sitcom Scarborough, said she 'couldn't stop crying' when she was leaving for the airport as well as shedding 'tears of joy' over the role, explaining: "It’s an amazing role, it’s an amazing job, with amazing talent."
Tom said: "We knew this was going to be our life whether we had one or two kids, or no kids, so we knew the deal when we first got together and we always said we would do everything as a team, so this is just the next adventure, and we’ll complete it and move on. "And we’ve got to just stay positive like that, as Cath’s following her dreams and we support her, just like she supports me, so it’s mutual respect."
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