Traitors’ Julie Hesmondhalgh: I found motherhood a struggle
Traitors’ Julie Hesmondhalgh: I found motherhood a struggle
Telegraph reportersThu, October 22, 2026 at 6:00 AM UTC
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Julie Hesmondhalgh says balancing work and family life was difficult for her - BBC/Studio Lambert/Euan Cherry
Julie Hesmondhalgh has disclosed she found motherhood “a struggle” and regrets the way she sometimes responded to her daughters.
The 56-year-old actress, who appeared on the latest series of The Celebrity Traitors, is best known for playing Hayley Cropper, British soap’s first transgender character, in Coronation Street.
Hesmondhalgh spoke to Good Housekeeping UK about some of the challenges she had raising her two children with Ian Kershaw, her writer husband, including how to manage her home and work life.
“I found a lot of motherhood a struggle,” she told the magazine.
“Balancing my own life and work with motherhood was tricky at times. I have a lot of regrets about losing my rag with my kids.”
Good Housekeeping UK/PA/Jonty Davies
“I took things too personally; I felt like they were almost trying to make my life difficult, which obviously they weren’t. They were just children,” she added.
Hesmondhalgh said she was “so chuffed” to be asked to be on the Celebrity Traitors because she was “obsessed” with the series.
Her time on the show came to an early end after she was banished from the castle by her fellow Faithfuls.
However, Hesmondhalgh formed new friendships, particularly with Romesh Ranganathan, describing the comedian as one of the “greatest human beings”.
She said: “The extraordinary thing is that you’re all on the same footing. There’s no status at all.
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Julie Hesmondhalgh says she forged new friendships on The Celebrity Traitors - BBC Pictures/Euan Cherry
“You have these accelerated friendships because there’s a lot of time off-camera when you’re travelling in cars together and aren’t allowed to discuss the game.”
She added: “People tell you about their lives; I found out so much about people and I was really touched that they trusted me.
“Romesh is one of the greatest human beings. We were in there right at the start, alongside Ross Kemp. The three of us were a very unlikely little threesome. I adored Ross, too.”
The actress is known for Broadchurch and playing Suzanne Sercombe, partner of Toby Jones’s Alan Bates, in the ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office.
She left Coronation Street in 2014 after 16 years on the show and said that she had “no regrets” about leaving, but that it sometimes felt strange to see so many of the same cast and crew names in the credits.
Julie Hesmondhalgh says the Coronation Street relationship between Hayley and Roy Cropper ‘got people talking’ - ITV/Television Stills
One of the key storylines Hesmondhalgh played out on the soap followed the relationship between her character and Roy Cropper, played by David Neilson.
She disclosed that Roy was originally meant to leave Hayley after she came out as transgender.
“Everybody loved the relationship. It became a key storyline almost by accident, which was the best way, because it wasn’t an issue that was shoehorned in,” she said.
“I maintain that Hayley and Roy’s love story was important. It got people talking.
“It’s so upsetting that trans rights have now gone backwards.”
The full interview can be read in Good Housekeeping’s December issue, which is on sale from Oct 22.
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
