‘MY PARENTS WOUND UP IN A CULT'

Actor Emrhys Cooper tells us about his sinister new role in Coronation Street and why the storyline is so close to home

Coronation Street's newest face looks set to cause a whole lot of trouble for Leanne Battersby (Jane Danson). Cult mentor Rowan Cunliffe, played by Emrhys Cooper, has been attempting to entice Leanne into the organisation with his motivational seminars and dodgy business plans.

Incredibly, for 39-year-old Emrhys, the storyline is very close to home. "My parents have encountered quite a few of Rowan's type over the years," he says. "I didn't understand it growing up, but as I got older, I witnessed first hand some of the dangers of these types of characters.

"My parents did wind up in a cult," he continues. "It was actually a wellness, fitness, spiritual cult. It presented itself as a kind of workout, feel-good fitness mentality, and it was only as they got further in and gave more money that it became sinister.

My parents are intelligent people - just very open-hearted, and they've been taken advantage of many times." As Emrhys opens up about his personal experiences, he also reveals a harrowing story about his mother.

"She had a prescription for high blood pressure and a holistic doctor told her she could get off her medication with a herbal remedy - but she had a heart attack," he says.