Who is Zoe Henry? Emmerdale actress playing Rhona Goskirk who also appeared in EastEnders
Zoe first appeared on the soap back in 2001 and her character Rhona Goskirk has had some harrowing storylines in that time.
EMMERDALE fans will recognise the woman who plays Rhona Goskirk in the popular British soap.
Here’s the lowdown on actress Zoe Henry...
Who is Zoe Henry?
Zoe Henry is a well-known soap actress who plays vet Rhona Goskirk in Emmerdale.
She first starred in the soap from 2001-2002, before returning in 2010 for a series of explosive storylines that kept viewers glued to their screens.
In between her two appearances on Emmerdale, Zoe played police officer Deanne Cunningham in EastEnders, investigating Trina Johnson’s murder.
She also appeared in Coronation Street as child-abducting Casey Carswell.
She has also had small roles in The Bill, Casualty, Doctors, and A Touch of Frost.
She is married to actor Jeff Hordley, her Emmerdale co-star who plays Cain Dingle on the soap. They wed in 2003.
Who does Zoe Henry play on Emmerdale?
Zoe plays Rhona Goskirk on the hit soap, who's been involved in one of the show’s biggest storylines.
In 2017, her husband Pierce Harris, played by Jonathan Wrather, emotionally manipulated her for months, with fans begging her to get out of the relationship.
In April fans finally thought it was over when Rhona kicked Pierce out of her house after their sex tape - which he claimed to have deleted - was passed around the pub.
Creepy Pierce kept turning up at Rhona’s house until she relented and he was able to charm her and get her on side again.
Rhona’s friend Vanessa Woodfield did her best to come between the pair, with Pierce even briefly calling off the wedding after she brought his mum to the hen party, but to no avail.
But it took until the actual night of his wedding for Pierce to reveal the true extent of his disturbing personality to new wife Rhona.
The businessman brutally attacked and rape his new bride, just hours after their ceremony.
She was left in a state of complete shock, terrified of Pierce and desperate to escape from him after the attack.
After revealing the full extent of the abusive relationship to Vanessa, Rhona relapsed into her painkiller addiction.
When her substance abuse was exposed, she lost her son Leo, with dad Marlon taking him away.
What has Zoe Henry said about her domestic abuse storyline?
She admitted she was surprised by the storyline when she first read scripts and wasn’t sure it was appropriate for Emmerdale’s audience.
She said: “When I read it, I found it quite shocking. I didn’t imagine that the story would go to where it’s gone to.”
Zoe was worried the scenes were so horrifying they would never make it to air – and that the story had taken such a dark turn audiences would not be able to cope with watching the horrifying scenes unfold.
She said: “When we rehearsed it, which we don’t normally, I did air my concerns about how brutal some of the stuff we were doing was.
“I asked: ‘Are we going to be able to show all of this?'”
But show bosses wanted the story to convey an important message, and do justice to how awful rape is.
She continued: "Our director said: 'We can’t half-tell this story. You can’t cut it down or make it less brutal, because what he’s done is brutal and awful.
"'If we don’t tell it properly, then we’re not doing our jobs right'. So that’s why it’s so awful to watch."
Zoe says the worst part of the ordeal is Pierce's cold reaction - as if what has happened is normal. She says: "After the attack, Rhona is really genuinely shocked by the turn of events.
"Pierce tells her to pull herself together and get dressed because people will be wondering where they are."
She concluded: "That's the part I found the hardest – his reaction afterwards."
