Helen Worth has been a famous face on Coronation Street since 1974, starring as Gail Platt for nearly 50 years. And whilst on screen, her character has been on a rollercoaster ride full of drama, off-screen, the star has been through a lot herself.
Having gone through six marriages, her daughter's teenage pregnancy, bitter feuds, and even facing serial killers, Gail sure has lived a drama-packed life on the iconic cobbles reports the Mirror.
And away from Weatherfield, Helen has admitted that she wouldn't be able to handle her Corrie character;s life, claiming she'd be in a "mental institution" if they shared similarities.
"I come home and see friends and go to the theatre. Luckily I find it quite easy to switch off – I'd be a nervous wreck if I didn't," she previously told the Mirror. The 72-year-old has a drastically differnt love life from her on-screen persona, having wed only twice - but it has not been without drama.
She walked down the aisle in 1991, marrying Michael Angelis - who is best known for narrating the Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends children's series - after the couple met in the '70s. The couple hit rocky ground after he had an affair in 1995 and revealed his infidelity to his wife after it was leaked to the press.
"Nothing can ever prepare you for the day your husband sits you down and tells you he is having an affair," Helen told The Mirror in 2001. It was the first time she'd spoken publicly about her personal life.
"My marriage was everything to me. It was the foundation on which everything else was built. I had been with Michael for nearly half of my life. I never imagined that we wouldn't grow old together. When he told me, everything just went black. Things started to make sense.
"Maybe I realised right away that something like that had been bound to happen. Things hadn't been right for some time, but - naively maybe - I didn't think it was serious."
"The pictures were about to be published and he knew he had to tell me fast," she continued. "He just said he was having an affair. I went through every emotion. I was hurt. Then angry. So angry. I tried to tell myself it wasn't happening.
"The worst thing was that I knew it was going to be in the papers the next day. To know that the rest of the world had to know about my pain was just unbearable."
Helen added at the time neither of them was keen to throw way 21 years worth of relationship and decided to rebuild their relationship. However, unfortunately for the pair, the damage was irreversible, and Helen and Michael spent hours discussing where they'd gone wrong.
"I can't describe how hard it was," she recalls. "Everything was slipping away and I couldn't do anything to stop it. I'd be up in Manchester, just trying to get on with the job and telling myself everything would be OK. But maybe I knew, deep down, that it was never going to be OK again."
By 2001, the couple decided to end their relationship, when more images emerged of Michael with his mistress, Welsh model Jennifer Khalastchi. The pair went on to marry. Helen revealed she felt she was "drowning" and being "dragged down" after their relationship eventually fell apart.
"I was afraid to let go. I just couldn't imagine a world that didn't have Michael in it," she said. "But in the end, I didn't have a choice. I had to accept it. It was either accept it, or go under, and I was never going to do that. I'm a survivor. I'd just never been put to the test until then."
Despite the pain caused, Helen didn't hold a grudge against her ex-husband, with the pair remaining friends and regularly meeting up for lunch until his tragic death in 2020.
"He was called a love rat and a cheat. But he wasn't. That's not how it was, things are never that easy. He just met someone who made him happier than I could. It wasn't a crime. It was just desperately sad," she said.
"I know now that Michael suffered as much as I did. He still loved me when he left. It tore him apart that he was hurting me. He would never willingly have caused me pain. He is the gentlest man I know."
Following her heartbreak, she remained single for a period of time until her whirlwind romance with a deputy headmaster. The Corrie star met Trevor Dawson at a mutual friend's 90th birthday party - and he claimed it was "love at first sight".
Trevor, who is seven years younger than Helen, had already been a fan of the star - regularly watching her character on screen. "We watch the show together. I had always been a fan going back some years. I used to watch it with my mum. Of course, Gail was my favourite," he told The Mirror in 2016.
The pair kept their relationship private for more than a year before tying the knot in 2012 in front of many of her Corrie co-stars. The newlyweds were greeted by nearly 200 well-wishers who cheered as they emerged from the ceremony.
Thanking her guests, Helen said: "It's been the most fantastic day, it has exceeded all expectations. We are thrilled that so many of our friends and family could be here to celebrate with us." Former church organist Trevor is also a qualified pilot and shares Helen’s passion for wildlife conservation.
Explaining how Helen wooed him with her culinary skills, Trevor added: "Cooking is Helen’s department. I do the consuming. She's really good." Helen has previously stated how much she loves working on Corrie and hopes to stick around for many years to come.
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