Emmerdale's Michelle Hardwick has confirmed that she's ended her relationship with wife Rosie Nicholl.
Speaking to the Daily Star, the actress, who is best known for her role as Vanessa Woodfield in the ITV soap, said: 'Unfortunately Rosie and I did split last year but are still good friends. It was one of those things where we did drift apart. It's just really sad and one of those things that happens.'
'We still have our dogs which we'll share and nobody else was involved, it just happened and it was a mutual decision. I don't know how else to explain it. I grew out of love and she became more of my best friend. It was like we were living as friends, not a married couple.'
Michelle added that the pair are still living together, but in seperate rooms until their divorce goes through.
'It has been the hardest thing either of us has ever been through,' she admitted. 'Coming to the decision to split was very difficult. But I believe it will be for the best in the long run.'
Michelle, 40, said she'd kept the split from her Emmerdale co-stars until recently, explaining that she didn't want to discuss it with anyone.
'Nothing was posted on social media, we just wanted it to be private. But people have started noticing that I am not wearing my wedding ring. I didn’t want to respond until the time was right,' she said.
'It is really, really sad. I can't help but think about my parents who married at 17 and 18 and are still blissfully happy – and that makes me feel like a failure. But as I've been told, sometimes it's braver to admit it has ended rather than stay and be unhappy.'
Michelle and Rosie started dating in January 2012 and within six months, they were living together, with Michelle saying at the time that 'everything just felt so right.'
She popped the question on holiday in Gran Canaria in 2013, and the pair wed in April 2015, in a romantic Yorkshire ceremony in co-ordinating white lace dresses.
'We won't be the first couple to have had the fairytale wedding and for it to end in divorce,' Michelle concluded.
'I'm not going to be ready to move on from this for a long time but never say never. But for now I am just going to throw myself into work and spending time with my family.'
