Emmerdale Belle Dingle star’s life off-screen – including family heartbreak
Emmerdale's Eden Taylor-Draper has played the character Belle Dingle on the ITV soap opera since she was a child as she looks forward to hitting a milestone next year
Emmerdale star Eden Taylor-Draper has put on an incredible performance as she portrays beaten wife Belle Dingle on the ITV soap.
In recent months, Belle has been subjected to domestic abuse at the hands of her estranged husband Tom King (James Chase). Despite ending their relationship, she continued to suffer as she grappled the idea of confiding in someone but finally seeking justice.
On Christmas Day, Belle is set to receive a ‘miracle’ as her beloved dog Piper makes a welcome return after initially believing she had died in one of Tom’s sick acts.
Although Belle has captivated soap fans with her domestic abuse, but fans may not be as familiar with actor Eden’s life away from the soap. Born in Selby, Yorkshire, in 1997, she first appeared on Emmerdale at the age of eight in 2005.
Over the years, she’s been awarded the Best Dramatic Performance from a Young Actor or Actress Award and the Best Young Performance award at the British Soap Awards, as well as the Best Young Actor award at the Inside Soap Awards.
Off-screen, Eden is in a long-term relationship with Ed Lewis, often posting pictures of them together on her Instagram page. She’s also given insights into her family, including having previously spoken about the impact of her sister Francesca’s cancer diagnosis at just 14 years old.
Eden, who was around 20 at the time, was a tower strength of support for her sister, visiting her every week to lift her spirits and even staying with her in the hospital.
Eden told The Mirror how she discovered news of the diagnosis while on the set of Emmerdale. She said: “When I came off set for my tea break, Dad called and it was such a blur. I felt like someone had ripped my stomach out and I broke down.”
She added: “I was with Issy Hodgins, who plays Victoria [Sugden], when I got the call, and she just held me for ages. I couldn’t go back to do my next scene. But Emmerdale were so supportive and let me go see Chess at Leeds General hospital straight away.”
Francesca had acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and went through four rounds of chemotherapy, contracting potentially-deadly sepsis at one point – but she responded well to treatment. Francesca had intensive treatment until December 2018 and started maintenance chemotherapy the following month.
Francesca would attend the treatment once a month and take chemo tablets every day. Eden was written out of Emmerdale for a month so she could spend time with her sister and visited her in hospital several times a week.
She said: “Chessie had her bed and I had a little bed next to her. Mornings would be a snuggle, cup of tea and re-runs of Come Dine with Me. I tried to keep Chess as cosy as possible. We’d always say love you before bed, and that everything would be okay.” Francesca beat the diagnosis and completed her A Levels two years ago.
Eden is happier than ever as part of the show and is hoping her character manages to evade the villainous clutches of Tom.
She is set to celebrate her 20th anniversary as part of the cast next year and told Christine Lampard on Lorraine in May how she wants to reach the milestone.
She said: “I can’t believe this, I was 7 or 8 when I joined, it will be 20 years next year. The Dingles started this tradition where when you get to a big anniversary you get an engraved bracelet from the Dingle, so I really want that bracelet – there’s only a few Jim, Jeff, Jane had one so I feel like I want to be in the gang, I’m nearly there!”
Emmerdale airs weekdays at 7:30pm on ITV1 and ITVX