{"id":100075,"date":"2025-10-02T23:53:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T23:53:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/100075\/"},"modified":"2025-10-02T23:53:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T23:53:10","slug":"emmerdales-jaye-griffiths-was-beaten-by-violent-ex-over-5-years-of-hell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/100075\/","title":{"rendered":"Emmerdale’s Jaye Griffiths was beaten by violent ex over 5 years of hell"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jaye Griffiths, who plays the devious Celia Daniels on the ITV soap, has opened up for the first time about her own experience of being in a relationship with a violent abuser<\/p>\n

20:30, 02 Oct 2025Updated 20:47, 02 Oct 2025<\/p>\n

\"JayeJaye Griffiths bravely opens up about the horrors she experienced at the hands of her violent ex(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

In shocking scenes tonight (Wednesday), Emmerdale farmer Celia Daniels was exposed as the mastermind behind the drugs gang terrorising the village<\/a>. Viewers have already witnessed Celia\u2019s cruel and manipulative side, but last night it emerged that she is far more dangerous than anyone could have imagined, as she violently slapped teenager April Windsor before threatening her life.<\/p>\n

Actress Jaye Griffiths<\/a>, who plays Celia, is revelling in the role of violent gang boss, yet the experiences of her tough-talking character could not be more removed from her own. For in a moving new interview, she shares that the most powerful role of her life has been that of survivor, having spent five years in an abusive relationship marked by gaslighting, violence and control.<\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t tell anybody because I was so ashamed. I disappeared for about five years. You would now use the term gaslight \u2013 but I couldn\u2019t make a decision,\u201d Jaye tells Kaye Adams on her How to be 60 podcast. \u201cI didn\u2019t know if what I thought was real was real, because he would constantly tell me I was wrong and the day after he hit me, I would get jewellery.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Grieving Emmerdale star wears necklace made of dead dog’s chest hair<\/a>\"JayeJaye Griffiths, who joined Emmerdale in May this year as Celia, reveals for the first time the horrors she encountered at the hands of her violent ex<\/p>\n

\u201cI lived in this twilight existence and I had to start again. I had to find out that someone walking behind you didn\u2019t mean you were going to get clobbered, that people sometimes said truthful things. But that took a very long time. When I finally went to the police they said on average a woman is hit 37 times before she tells anyone. All I did was lie \u2013 \u2018no, I\u2019m fine thanks, I\u2019m fine.\u2019 That\u2019s exhausting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jaye, who joined Emmerdale<\/a> earlier this year, has spent her career playing formidable tough-talking women, in shows including Casualty, Doctor Who<\/a>, Silent Witness and The Bill. But away from the screen she found herself unable to make the slightest decision. \u201cIf I put the heating on in the house there could be consequences to that \u2013 \u2018you f*****g waste my money.\u2019 So, I wouldn\u2019t put it on,\u201d she recalls.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I didn\u2019t put it on and the house was cold, there\u2019d be consequences to that, so you live in a world<\/a> of – what should I do? what\u2019s for the best?\u201d<\/p>\n

When the relationship finally ended, Jaye said she had to re-build her life, step by step. In the brave and frank How to be 60 interview she explains: \u201cYou start with little things. I like tea, but no milk, I like coffee black, I do not like bread. I am allowed to change my mind and I\u2019m going to have a sandwich. I want a herbal tea, because I can. Those small choices are your foundation, because you can decide without consequence.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then time passes and you get stronger. I look back now and I think: f**k.\u2019 People say to me: \u2018why didn\u2019t you just leave?\u2019 and I want to stab them in the eye and go: \u2018where? And tell who? And do what?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JayeJaye says recovering from the abuse she suffered took years(Image: ITV)<\/p>\n

Jaye, 62, is now happily married. The couple live in Hertfordshire and have been together for over 20 years, but Jaye says her previous relationship initially haunted her. \u201cIt took years for me to truly believe that this was a nice guy,\u201d she tells Kaye Adams. “I always knew he was a nice guy, but was that enough?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe other one was nice out in the world. In private, are you more important than their ego? That\u2019s where it counts. Not out at a do. We had rules – you couldn\u2019t come up behind me, you couldn\u2019t touch my neck. That took three or four years for that to stop. Now, if someone touches my neck, I don\u2019t freak out, so that\u2019s good. I don\u2019t like it, but I don\u2019t freak out.<\/p>\n

\u201cHome is now safe, as it should always have been; that\u2019s what everybody deserves. Our house is peaceful, aside from a nutty Italian greyhound. Our house is so safe and my life is gentle; there\u2019s no drama. He doesn\u2019t do big romantic gestures – he doesn\u2019t know what they mean – but he does bring a cup of tea, he does cuddle the dogs<\/a>, he does make dinner every single night. He does things quietly and he\u2019s very funny, so my life is lovely and I\u2019m lucky. Not everybody has that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jaye joined Emmerdale in June as fearsome farmer Celia Daniels. Cold and selfish, she was not a woman to be crossed. But last night\u2019s hour-long episode revealed the full extent of her wickedness. For months drugs dealer Ray Walters (Joe Absolom) has been forcing vulnerable youngsters April Windsor (Amelia Flanagan) and Dylan Penders (Fred Kettle) into selling drugs.<\/p>\n

But while tough-talking Ray has previously appeared to be in charge of the operation, last night he was seen reduced to a cowering wreck in front of Celia \u2013 who it emerges is his mum and the real head of the operation.<\/p>\n

\"JayeJaye plays Celia, who this week is exposed as the manipulative drugs kingpin on Emmerdale<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, trapped in county lines drug dealing, April and Dylan are left with no way out. Jaye says: \u201cAt last the audience have seen the link between her and Ray and the fact she is the mastermind behind it all. There is lots more drama to come. The audience will now be fearing how trapped these kids are as it\u2019s very clear Celia and Ray are not beginners at this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jaye is revelling in playing a character so evil that even the Emmerdale crew were wary of getting close to her when she filmed the shocking scene where she slaps April. “I tower over her and slap her round the chops because she doesn\u2019t do as she\u2019s told,\u201d Jaye recalls. \u201cWhen we did the rehearsal, literally the crew took a step back. I was like: \u2018OK, it\u2019s pretend. I haven\u2019t touched her; I\u2019m nowhere near her face.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the How to be 60 interview, Jaye, whose dad was born in Barbados, opened up on the shocking racist abuse she experienced as a child growing up in London. \u201cMy mum\u2019s white so, walking hand in hand, people spitting at us, people shouting things. It was incredibly common in London in the 70s,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just expected grief. My mum would always take two sets of clothing, so if we went to the seaside we\u2019d come back in pristine clothes, so that no-one could say we looked dirty. That effort required to just navigate the tube train, that\u2019s what gets into your marrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jaye, who has just turned 62, said she hoped that more roles like Celia would come her way in the future. She explained: \u201cWhen I got to 60, I didn\u2019t work for eight months; I became invisible. Fifties is still sexy. Sixties isn\u2019t sexy. We need to sex up 60. Because we\u2019re perceived now as dried, but actually, we\u2019re not.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to do more parts like Celia, where she actually does s**t, not sits in an office talking about what other people do. I want to be in fights. I want to hit the stuntman and he flies across the room, because I can still do that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI run marathons. So stop treating me like I\u2019m fragile, because I\u2019m not. I\u2019m probably fitter than you, I\u2019ve probably got a better VO2 max than you, certainly got a better resting heart rate than you, so shut your face.\u201d<\/p>\n

The drama on Emmerdale continues Friday at 7:30pm on ITV1 and STV, or from 7am on ITVX and STV Player<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kaye Adams: How to be 60 is available on all podcast providers<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you believe you could be a victim of domestic abuse, call Refuge for free advice on 0808 2000 247, open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.<\/strong><\/p>\n

READ MORE: Emmerdale fans left in shock as villain ‘spotted’ in Coronation Street<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jaye Griffiths, who plays the devious Celia Daniels on the ITV soap, has opened up for the first…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":100076,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[75],"tags":[63554,63555,12634,18,8311,117,19,17,63553,62938,49412,7416,63556,8312,6663],"class_list":["post-100075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-casualty","tag-doctor-who","tag-domestic-violence","tag-eire","tag-emmerdale","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-jaye-griffiths","tag-joe-absolom","tag-kaye-adams","tag-prescriptions","tag-silent-witness","tag-soap-operas","tag-teenagers"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100075\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}