Emmerdale star Louisa Clein has been portraying schoolteacher Maya Stepney in the soap's controversial grooming storyline, and the actress has teased that there could be a backstory behind her character's troubling behaviour. Talking to The Mirror, the mum-of-three said: "Maya doesn’t think she's doing anything wrong. She is obviously very damaged, she is desperately insecure, she is needy." Louisa – who has been working closely with charity Barnardo's – added: "One of the social workers from Barnardo's was telling me often abusers have been abused in their childhood. It is almost as if the emotional part of their brain is stilted." Louisa added that it was "heartbreaking" doing the research, as she had met with victims of abuse and heard their stories.
Maya Stepney's backstory may be looked into
Next week in Emmerdale, viewers will see Maya lose control over Jacob when her plans to split him and Liv up backfire. Maya attempts to set Jacob up by telling Robert and Aaron that he is with Liv, but when he realises he tells her to stay away from him, leaving her crushed. She then feels threatened when Jacob tells her that he will tell David about their affair. Terrified that everything will unravel around her, Maya will be seen planning to leave the village, but will then fall from a stool while packing her bags, becoming unconscious. It is not yet known whether she will survive the fall, and whether or not Jacob will tell the truth about her to anyone.
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Next week Maya suffers a fall when she tries to escape the Dales
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In real life, actress Louisa couldn’t be happier at having been given a big storyline in the soap. She told The Mirror: "I felt excited for the challenge. As a woman of my age working, to get a character like this, to get a story like this doesn’t come around that often." Louisa commutes from London to Leeds for filming, meaning that she is away from her children a lot of the time during the week. She added: "It is tough, but there came a point where I thought I love work, I want my kids to see me working.” Louisa is married to Jeremy Brier, a barrister and part-time judge, who she met through Judge Robert Rinder – who was the best man at their wedding.
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