No-one mentions a man with a younger woman
urse. “Somebody told me that I left rrie because I didn’t get enough aire. What a load of old nonsense. I left rrie because I wanted to be a better um to Maia. I only ever signed for three years ecisely because of that. I felt guilty the ole time I was at Corrie. I should have en with my daughter.”
Split
Michelle had Maia, now 22, with Fabio Tassalini who she split from after ree years. But the couple remained ends and she was with him when he ed of cancer, aged just 54, in 2015 in stralia, where he’d moved. When you see someone die not only in nt of you,” she says, “but in your daughter’s arms, it’s devastating in every way. He was a very charismatic, charming man who died far too young.”
Michelle admits she has never felt the urge to get married.
“My sister Vicki wanted the big white wedding but not me,” she reveals.
“I was always a bit of a rebel, a nonconformist. And my career has always been important to me, particularly when I was younger.”
What about if Mike were to get down on bended knee now? She laughs: “Oh, I don’t know! I can’t honestly say I need to be married. And would marriage change our relationship? We’re very strong but we could break up if I had a ring on my finger – who knows?
“Society’s changed. I go to more gay weddings these days than straight ones. I love a wedding – as long as it is not my own!”
She also doesn’t mind if Maia gets married, adding: “That would be up to her. She’ll do what she wants to do.
“I’m glad I brought her up to be a strong, independent woman.
Wedding
“That said, I do think it’s daft when people take out a mortgage and then spend £30,000 on their wedding.”
As well as her acting, businesswoman Michelle as just launched her own five-step skincare regime.
There’s a cleanser, an eye cream, a serum, a day and a night moisturiser – all of them green tea-based and with an active ingredient to lift the skin and defy the ravages of age.
She explains: “I was involved in every step of the formulation, manufacture, packaging and now despatch.
“It costs £99 for the full set but that should last you about two months.
“I use them, as does my boyfriend – well the moisturisers anyway.”
The skincare range fits perfectly with Michelle’s philosophy of life. “I refuse to become invisible,” she says, “just because I’ve reached my mid-50s. It’s easier for a man of that age because men aren’t judged by their appearance in the same way that women are – and particularly in my business. It’s never been a level playing field. But then it isn’t in life.”
¬ÊSee mcskintruth.com