Coronation Street star Tina O’Brien has said she experiences “full-time mummy guilt” because she is a working mother.
The 32-year-old actress has two children, Scarlett, seven, and 16-month-old Beau, and after an eight-year absence, Tina returned to Corrie in 2015 to reprise the role of Sarah-Louise Platt.
Among the first to welcome her back was Ryan Thomas. The actor, who recently announced his imminent departure from the cobbles, not only plays her character’s ex-husband Jason Grimshaw, he is also Tina’s former partner and Scarlett’s father.
Tina O’Brien in Hello magazine (Hello)
In an exclusive interview with Hello! magazine, the petite blonde admitted that working mothers “can never win”.
“I absolutely do suffer full-time mummy guilt,” she said. “But I have experienced both ends of the spectrum, so I know mums can never win.”
She added: “When I was pregnant with Scarlett and was a jobbing actress, I knew I would be off work for at least a year because nobody was going to employ a pregnant actress and I really relished being a stay-at-home mum.”
Tina O’Brien (Ian West/PA)
Tina said she would like to be a good example for her daughter. “I love the feeling of doing something I love and providing for my family,” she told the magazine.
“I think it is important that your children see you doing something you enjoy. I couldn’t ask for a better job.
“I want to be a role model for Scarlett and teach her that it is normal for mummies to go to work and to aspire to exciting and rewarding things in life.”
Corrie’s Sarah Platt (ITV)
Best known for her portrayal of Weatherfield’s troubled resident, Tina joined the soap in 1999 and one of her biggest storylines has revolved around the subject of teenage pregnancy.
Sarah discovered she was pregnant with daughter Bethany at the age of 13 and the father was Neil Fearns (actor Paul Holowaty), who later died in a car crash.
Tina left the cobbles in 2007, returning to television to play student Bex Fisher in BBC One school drama Waterloo Road from 2010 to 2011.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bTeJfLlkHI&feature=oembed
In Corrie, the turmoil continues for single mother Sarah, who is expecting the baby of deceased drug dealer Callum Logan (Sean Ward).
Away from work, Rusholme-born star Tina discussed how Scarlett set her up with Adam Crofts, her partner of nearly five years.” It was a chance encounter in a coffee shop,” she revealed.
“We would never have started talking had it not been for Scarlett because Adam had his headphones in when Scarlett went over to him and said, ‘Hello, man’.
Sarah with Callum in Corrie (Joseph Scanlon/ITV)
“The bizarre thing was that I had only just been thinking that finally I was happy being on my own and didn’t need to be with anyone, when along comes Adam, who turns out to be Mr Perfect.
“I have never particularly believed in fate, but you have to wonder when something like that happens,” she said.
The couple, parents to son Beau, are on cordial terms with Ryan. Tina has described their relationship as “a very modern family”.
Watch Tina in Coronation Street on ITV every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
