Former Emmerdale star Gemma Atkinson has opened up about the reason she quit the show last year.
Gemma – who has also had roles in Hollyoaks and Casualty – joined Emmerdale as Carly Hope in 2015, before bowing out of the soap two years later.
The actress then went on to compete in the 2017 series of Strictly Come Dancing, but admits that leaving Carly behind was one of the hardest decisions she's ever had to make.
"I was doing my Key 103 radio show and Emmerdale together for six months and I just took on too much," Gemma said to Sunday Post.
"Leaving Emmerdale was one of the toughest decisions I've ever had to make. I just couldn't keep doing the two jobs and the radio show was closer to home and gave me more freedom to do other stuff.
"I was getting up at 4am, wasn't getting home until 8.30pm and then had to learn my lines. I had no social life at all and it was my mum who told me that I was getting so grumpy I had to leave one of the jobs.
"I chose to leave Emmerdale and I'm very grateful that it's been left open, so hopefully at some point I will return."
Speaking about her time in Strictly, Gemma added: "It changed my life and opened a lot of doors. It's something to prove to yourself, that you can learn a dance routine in four days, go and perform it in front of 15 million people and get judged by four strangers.
"Never in a million years did I think I'd be able to do that."
Emmerdale airs weeknights at 7pm on ITV, with an extra episode at 8pm on Thursdays.
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