Emmerdale actress Amy Walsh, who has welcomed a baby with EastEnders star Toby-Alexander Smith, found love again after devastating heartbreak.
While her own love life might not be anywhere near as action packed as Tracy Metcalfe – Amy Walsh has had her own fair share of romantic drama.
The Emmerdale actress, who been on the ITV soap since July 2014, is celebrating the birth of her first child with EastEnders star Toby-Alexander Smith.
But before she found love with Toby, better known as Albert Square villain Gray Atkins, Amy was engaged to a musical theatre star but it ended in heartbreak.
It was actually Amy’s famous sister, Girls Aloud star Kimberley Walsh, who set her up with the West End actor after they appeared in Shrek The Musical in London.
Kimberley has always looked out for her little sister by vetting her boyfriends and making it clear when she didn’t think they came up to scratch.
When she got friendly with Jaden during rehearsals, Kimberley invited him to her 30th birthday party and played matchmaker with Amy.
“She did some expert matchmaking. She is always very protective with me, especially when it comes to boys, so to have her approval of him early on helped him out in a big way,” Amy told The Mirror at the time.
“Before the party she told me, ‘there is someone going along tonight who might be interested in you’, so she planted the seed and it happened. We just hit it off, so it was thanks to her.”
Amy said she and Bradley loved being around kids but had no plans to start a family of their own at that stage.
“We are both broody but we have lots of nieces and nephews to occupy us,” she said. “Our careers come first at the moment. But we have just moved in with each other which is very exciting.”
Bradley called Amy ‘The One’ and proposed to her during a lavish holiday to Thailand in 2016, saying she was the “best thing” that had ever happened to him.
But they kept their happy news a secret for a whopping six months before revealing the details of the proposal.
“I genuinely didn’t know what was happening until he got down on one knee,” she told OK magazine in February 2017.
“I just thought, no, this can’t be that! Then I burst into tears. It’s an amazing feeling. Everything feels more solidified between us.”
Bradley claimed his proposal plans had been a long time in the making, saying: “If I’m honest, I’ve known she’s The One since I met her.
“I feel very lucky. She’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I started saving for a ring about two years ago and I bought it about seven months before we went to Thailand.”
However, in 2019 the Sunday Mirror revealed the wedding was off and he had moved on with his Wicked co-star Olivia Kate Holding.
Gutted Amy threw herself into working on Emmerdale and spending time with her friends to get over the agonising split.
She said: “It’s been my busiest time at Emmerdale so I’m throwing myself into that. I live with a couple of the Emmerdale make-up girls so I’m enjoying Leeds.
“I’m happy and I’m thankful for what I get to do every day.”
Amy has since found love again with EastEnders star Toby-Alexander and kept their relationship secret for a while before stepping out on the red carpet together.
The couple have managed to make their long-distance relationship from Walford to the Dales work – with Amy splitting her time between seeing Toby in London and filming in Leeds.
Amy has been loving the fact she can get feedback and run lines with her actor boyfriend, saying: “I’ve enjoyed my job even more since meeting him.
She added: “There are moments when I’ve said to him, ‘I really don’t know how to play this’. And we’ll discuss it and I’ll get there.”
In September, the excited pair announced they were expecting their first child together.
Amy told OK! magazine at the time: “It feels as though the way everything happened was meant to be. I thought I might struggle with fertility, so for pregnancy to happen quite easily and when I wanted – I was gobsmacked. We feel incredibly lucky…”
She had previously explained how she thought she might never become a mum after being diagnosed with Polycystic Ovaries when she was 20.
“I always thought falling pregnant was going to be a battle. Toby knew how worried I was, especially as I’m a bit older,” she said.
“I did wonder if it would ever happen for me, so it feels like a blessing.”
Toby added: “There’s never a perfect time. You could always think, ‘We could do with a bigger house or investing more time in our careers,’ but if you’ve met the right person then that’s it.”
Before giving birth, Amy confessed she felt “weirdly excited” about the experience and was looking forward to going through the journey with Toby.
Yesterday, the real-life soap couple announced the birth of their baby.
Confirming the arrival, to OK!, Amy said: “Well…it’s been a busy week! Hope you all had a good one. HAPPY NEW YEAR from the three of us.”
The new parents also shared a sweet snap of themselves pushing a pram and looking lovingly at their newborn.
