Who is Laurel Thomas actress Charlotte Bellamy? Emmerdale star whose character’s husband Ashley died of dementia
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SOAP addicts will instantly recognise Charlotte Bellamy as Emmerdale's Laurel Thomas.
Over the years her character has suffered through a lot of tragedy – from her baby dying of cot death to her true love Ashley (John Middleton) deteriorating and eventually dying from dementia.
Who is Charlotte Bellamy?
Charlotte Bellamy is originally from Kent and studied Performance Arts at Middlesex University, graduating in 1993.
One of her first roles was in 1996 when she played Jamie Merrick in A Touch of Frost.
She went on to play Sue Taylor, a religious fanatic, in EastEnders before appearing as Laurel in 2002.
Charlotte has been nominated six times for the British Soap Awards – winning Best Actress last year – and once for the National Television Awards in 2008.
That year, she won the title of 'Best Soap Actress' at the TV Quick & TV Choice Awards.
The star is married to Mungo Denison, and has three kids: two boys called Herbie and Sunnie, and a daughter named Teddie.
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Who is her Emmerdale character Laurel Thomas?
Laurel has appeared in Emmerdale since 2002 and her life has been entangled with husband Ashley's since the very beginning.
She has had a number of major storylines, including the cot death of her son Daniel when he was just a few months old.
This prompted her to begin lashing out to everyone close to her and her relationship with Ashley broke down and she left the Dales.
When she later returned she and Marlon began dating and eventually got married. But after her life began unravelling she turned to drink.
It was only when she admitted that she was an alcoholic that she managed to get help, split up with Marlon and later reignited her relationship with Ashley.
But tragedy was still in store for her after Ashley admitted that he had been diagnosed with early onset vascular dementia.
She struggled to cope during his dementia hell and was left devastated at his eventual death and heartbreaking funeral.
She later started an affair with Bob Hope, who looked after her during the struggle.