Roxy Shahidi opens up on the challenges of her new job away from Emmerdale

Roxy Shahidi from Emmerdale had an appearance in the Dancing On Ice season in 2024.

**Emmerdale star Roxy Shahidi** (Image: Getty Images)

Favourite Roxy Shahidi from Emmerdale has talked candidly about her experiences in her new career off the show.

As some fans may already be aware, 41-year-old Roxy Shahidi may be seen this season on ITVBe’s fly-on-the-wall documentary series Drama Queens. She is one of several celebrities being trailed by cameras for the series, including stars from Coronation Street, Hollyoaks, and Emmerdale.

The actress who portrays Leyla Harding in Emmerdale, Roxy, said she felt really exposed participating, as our colleagues at The Mirror reported. Of course, she talks most significantly about her father’s untimely death when she was just 17 years old and he was 41.

“When the cameras start rolling, it’s just you, the other ladies, and this crew you got to know and trust,” adds Roxy, who collaborated on the eight-part TV series with other actors Rita Simons, a former EastEnder who is now a Hollyoaks star, and Lucy Fallon and Ellie Leach of Coronation Street.

However, a few weeks later, you notice it’s actually airing on television, and you find it difficult to recall exactly what you said. All you can recall is how vulnerable you felt.

“I kept asking myself, ‘What did I say?'” And how angry did I become? You play a role on Emmerdale and have a script to follow, but this is you being as real as you can be in the moment. And you feel a little vulnerable after that.

Roxy, who participated in this year’s Dancing On Ice season, is by nature a quite quiet person, so her choice to commit to the programme was all the more significant.

I’ve previously avoided doing a lot of publicity, reality shows, or anything that truly exposed me personally because it made me feel vulnerable,” Roxy acknowledges. “I kind of ran away from it instead of facing it head-on and sticking my toe in the water.”

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