After surprising children and parents alike by leaving The Wiggles last year, Emma Watkins says her time in the children's group "wasn't without its challenges".
In an interview with Stellar magazine, Watkins reflected on her time as the Yellow Wiggle after she announced she would part ways with the character last October, a role she had held since 2013.
At the time, Watkins said she was leaving the band to spend more time with her family, and focus on her postgraduate studies.
"Like many people around the world, the pandemic has given me time to reflect on what is important in life," Watkins said in October.
"For me, that means spending more time at home, something that I didn't realise I was missing out on being away eight months of the year on tour."
But Watkins told Stellar there was not one, singular, defining moment that she chose to walk away from The Wiggles.
"But I relate it to when I took time off after I had surgery for my endometriosis in 2018. I had two beautiful performers replace me on tour for a period of weeks.
"I felt terrible and kept thinking, 'How are we going to do this?' But the children still came to the shows, because they love the music. That experience helped me make this decision, because everyone was OK after that."
Watkins said a culmination of the pandemic — coupled with spending more time at home and her working on her PhD, which incorporates sign language, dance and film editing — helped her make the decision to part ways with the group.
"Part of the decision is knowing that I have some more to bring to the world by being able to finish this research, come back and present it in another way. I knew I needed to be completely embroiled in it to finish it," she said.
'I gave The Wiggles everything'
Watkins joined The Wiggles in 2010, and became the third Yellow Wiggle in 2013, after Greg Page and Sam Moran — and, in doing so, became the first female Wiggle.
"It was a beautiful time. However, it wasn't without its challenges," Watkins said.
"It took about two or three years to actually have people accept that there was a female among the group. That was a massive deal back then.
"It wasn't really liked. A lot of people were very territorial about the original group and, in a way, I could understand, because I grew up with that group.
Now — with 16-year-old Tsehay Hawkins pulling on the famed yellow skivvy this year — Watkins said she has no problem differentiating herself from her Emma Wiggle character.
"I think of myself as a gateway for children to experience music and dance. We have a responsibility to introduce children to entertainment and I'm that vehicle," she said.
"I'm really proud of that. It's been so rewarding. But the time away during COVID showed me that I gave The Wiggles everything."
Watkins said a return to children's entertainment could still be on the horizon after some time away from the spotlight.
She told Stellar she had not ruled out possible, one-off, special performances with The Wiggles in the future, and has begun conceptualising a new character, "Emma Memma".
