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New Mother

Deena Payne
Emmerdale Actress says 'I never wanted babies early in life'

by Ellie Genower

Emmerdale actress Deena Payne may not have much in common with her gossipy, shoulder pad-wearing alter ego Viv Hope. But like her character, who becomes a mum for the third time this week when she gives birth to her long-awaited twins, Deena also had a baby later in life.

"I was 38 when I had my son William who's now 14," reveals Deena, who lives with her partner Steve Grant in Harrogate, North Yorkshire. "I was never ready to have babies earlier on. I knew when I wanted one and that was that. I always think that William brought me luck because I got the job in Emmerdale soon after he was born."

Deena reckons there are definite pluses to being an older mum. "If
you're older, experience kicks in, and you can guide your children more," she says. "You have more foresight than when you're younger, along with a lot more responsibility and experience, which gets you through. You can also organise your life better, and come to know that you don't have to give up everything to have a baby. It's also more fulfilling later on because you've waited for it, although nowadays more women are waiting to have babies, but aren't always able to have them, which is a shame.

"However, there are pros and cons to every situation. If you have your babies early, you're close enough in age to be almost like a sister and have that kind of relationship."

This week, Viv finally gives birth after a rather complicated pregnancy."It's not been the happiest time ever," laughs Deena. "Originally, Viv was under the impression that she could no longer have children - she thought she was having an early menopause. So she persuaded her daughter Donna to agree to be a surrogate mum. But then her husband Bob's daughter Dawn died in that horrific house accident, and Bob went off the idea of having more kids. Then when Viv finally did conceive, she was held up at gunpoint and also went into false labour. Every time she felt things were going right, they went wrong."

So it's never going to be a straightforward birth for Viv - she ends up stranded on the moors with Bob, Paddy and Marlon after their car breaks down.

"They are all on their way to Donna's passing out parade when they break down," explains Deena. "It's windy and raining - the worst weather ever. Viv's waters break in the car, and she ends up having to give birth in a nearby hut!

"She is absolutely petrified. Bob and Paddy deliver the twins, but Viv thinks she's going to die because she's got a fibroid and that, any minute, she could bleed to death as she's got no proper medical support. So, when I did the scene, I ended up screaming my head off!"

But after the birth is over, how does Viv, already a mum to Donna and Scott, cope with two new babies at her age?

"She's in denial," Deena exclaims. "After having the babies, she goes
into hospital, and then the very next day she's back out working in the shop and going to the Woolpack shouting that she wants to reclaim her life and get drunk. This is four days after she's given birth to twins and she's nearly 50!

"I think she's just trying to cope with the situation in hand, trying to
get her life back in some form, although admittedly a bit prematurely the day after she comes out of hospital. She loves the twins but somebody else can hold them when they're making too much noise."

Although she loves having a couple of newborn babies on the Emmerdale set, Deena admits she's only too pleased to be able to hand them back when filming finishes.

"I love working with the babies - they're two lovely little girls," she coos. "They've been so good, and it's so lovely to cuddle a baby. But it's different when it's somebody else's as you can give it back. You don't get that kind of 'at one' feeling that you have when it's your own."

Whatever happens with Viv, Deena admits that it's now a very different Emmerdale to the one she joined back in 1993, when the soap went out three times a week. As the show gradually increased its weekly episode count, Deena found herself having to uproot her young family from London to Harrogate to cope with the tough filming schedule.

"It was a wrench to move from home up to Yorkshire, although Harrogate is absolutely beautiful," says Deena. "My partner Steve is a musician so he's away most weekends, playing in Europe, and I'm committed to Will's rugby and all his activities at weekends so I can't get back home to the south any more. We've committed to being up here because it wasn't really fair on William, pulling him here there and everywhere - he has to come first. So I rarely see my family - maybe once, twice a year if I'm lucky."

Unusually for such a busy actress, Deena also keeps herself occupied
with practising alternative therapies, after qualifying as a
professional aromatherapist back in 1989.

"It was something I did during resting times before I got the part in Emmerdale, and it actually fitted in quite nicely," she says. "I still keep up with it. Steve has just done a hypnotherapy course and he'll be qualified in March so we're having an extra room built in the house - a healing room which is very exciting.

"Before Emmerdale went three times a week, I used to do my treatments a lot more," she adds. "I would sometimes have a couple of days off, and on one of those days I would go to the studios and set my healing table up in the archivists room and book half a day in to massage people - it was fab."

Along with massage and aromatherapy, Deena also practices reiki. "I
still do it when I can. It gives the body the chance to realign its
energies to heal itself," she says. "I keep it going within the family
and it keeps my hand in."

Clearly, all this talk of alternative living is all about as far removed
from Viv as Deena can possibly get. "I can't imagine her doing anything like it," she chuckles. "I grow my own vegetables too and I don't think she'd do that either. If she did, she would wear an all-in-one glamorous number tucked into high heeled boots, along with the brightest pink gardening gloves you could find!"

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