Coronation Street's Bernie Winter actress Jane Hazlegrove's real-life love story with Emmerdale star
Coronation Street's Bernie Winter, played by actress Jane Hazlegrove, has become a fan favourite since her arrival in Weatherfield in 2019 and she has a surprising real-life romance where she is married to a fellow soap star in real life.
She has had a tumultuous love life on the ITV soap and most recently, her character was sentenced to three months in prison for handling stolen goods, leading her children Gemma and Paul to organise an early Christmas celebration before she serves her sentence. Known for being the mother of twins Gemma Winter and Paul Foreman, Bernie has faced numerous challenges during her time on the soap, from dealing with dodgy mates to grappling with her son Paul's devastating Motor Neurone Disease diagnosis.
Bernie's love life has also been a rollercoaster ride with a string of failed romances having dominated her time on the show. Off-screen, Jane thankfully leads a much calmer love life, as the actress is happily married to fellow actress Isobel Middleton.
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Isobel, known for her roles in Emmerdale and EastEnders, has been in a relationship with Bernie for over 28 years and the couple tied the knot in 2015.
In a recent interview with Liverpool Echo, Jane shared a touching moment when she was "unable to open the script" for the episode where Paul dies, and her wife Isobel stepped in to help her cope with the demanding storyline.
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The real life soap couple have remained mostly private about their romance but Jane couldn't help but to break away from their usual privacy when she shared some sweet details about her wife on Lorraine in 2019.
She exclaimed: "She's sensational, a really beautiful woman. I am very obsessed."
During that heartfelt chat, Jane also let slip that they'd been an item for a whopping 28 years, and cheekily suggested that not acting together on screen might just be their love's secret ingredient!
While they've never shared the screen, both actresses have soap credentials, with Isobel having played three different roles in Emmerdale, including Jean Rawson in 2020, a barrister in Simon McManus' 2018 trial, and Dr Lane back in 2014.
Jane, on the other hand, is famed for her stint as Casualty 's Kathleen 'Dixie' Dixon, before joining the cast of Coronation Street. Her TV credits don't end there though she's also popped up in Doctors, The Bill, and London's Burning.
The joyful duo initially became civil partners in 2010, but tying the knot formally wasn't always the main focus for Jane, until sadly Isobel fell ill. Chatting with Metro, Jane reminisced: "The reason we did it was because Isobel hadn't been well.
"It became very clear that I wasn't really allowed to know anything about how she was because we weren't related, even though we'd lived together for 15 years. It made me quite cross that I had no say in what happened to her.
She added: "It all worked out fine, thankfully, but the morning after the civil partnership, I remember us saying over breakfast, 'No-one can touch us now'."
Jane also shared a glimpse inside their real life love story as she once revealed: "So 25 years ago I went to do a play in London Town... and on this night 25 years ago I met a woman called Wiz... 8 house moves later, 3 cities later, and whole lot of loving and laughing... here we are 25 years later.
"Civil partners for 10... married for 5! I love you darling girl with every inch of my being... and as a wise old friend once said this love is my greatest achievement! And I'm pleased to report I can now remember your name!"