Emmerdale legend says ‘I can’t bear it’ as she up opens up on health diagnosis
Explaining her twin diagnoses of ADHD and autism, Emmerdale star Charley Webb has opened up on how it affects the way she parents the three children she shares with former co-star Matthew Wolfenden
Charley says she has no immediate plans to return to Emmerdale(Image: ITV)
Former Emmerdale star Charley Webb has opened up about her health diagnosis and how it affects her life.
Late last year, Charley revealed that she had been diagnosed with both Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Autism, and says that the diagnosis explains why she has always been very sensitive to noise.
Speaking on Luke Hamnett’s podcast, Live, Laugh, Luke, Charley adds that it’s particularly apparent when it comes to caring for her three boys: “Sometimes when I get back and I’ve been away from them, I forget how loud they are. And it takes me so long to readjust. I’m really overstimulated cuz they’re just so loud.
“Noise is my biggest trigger,” she explains. “ I can’t bear it.”
Charley says that her hands-off parenting style is making her three sons more self-reliant. “It’s called character building,” she explains. “They don’t get fed and they don’t complain. I am like, ‘Get your takeaway. I’ve got to go… order what you want, I’m out’.”
Charley and Matthew share custody on a week-on, week-off basis. While she admits that she found that a struggle at first, she now finds the arrangement really suits her personality: “I think I’ve got used to it now.
Charley and Matthew announced that they had separated in November 2023
“At first it was really hard. For 50% of the time I was like ‘Where are my children’? But now I’m living my best life …I’m so much better when I’ve had a week off from them. I can be a really good mum because I’ve had a break.”
Charley adds that she dismisses social media critics who comment that she should be spending more time with her sons. She continues: “I have a week off and I’m going to do what I want. If I want to go to Australia, I am going.”
She says that her recent diagnoses have helped her understand herself a great deal better: “I think my autism is definitely stronger than the ADHD side. I think it’s definitely more autism. But then even that I think is mild and I think everyone has this idea of autism like it’s just one thing and it’s really not.”
Charley relishes the independence that co-parenting gives her(Image: Dave Benett/Getty Images)
Still identified as Debbie DIngle by many TV viewers, Charley says she has no plans to play the character again. “There’s no plans for me to go back,” she said, “just because I think it wouldn’t be the right time and having three kids is a lot and also working there is a lot.”
The last update viewers received on Debbie was that she had moved to Australia without warning, with her daughter, Sarah Sugden, only discovering the news when she rang to tell her about her cancer diagnosis.
Although Charley isn’t heading back to The Dales any time soon, fans can expect to see her on screen again towards the end of the year. She’s set to appear in a provocative six-part ITV drama called Adultery.
Created by writer Danny Brocklehurst, the series follows two single parents whose intense, forbidden affair puts their families, marriages, and lives at risk. Charley says: “It’s a great cast. Dominic Cooper, Shelley Conn. I think it’s going to be one of those things that people binge.”
