Actress Emily Symons is best known for appearing in the TV soap opera Emmerdale, but for football fans something else might spring to mind.
Symons is originally from Australia and had a long career on the small screen starring in Home and Away for a decade as Marilyn Chambers-Fisher, before she was cast as Louise Appleton for a stint in the Dales.
But it was her lead role as Goldilocks in a festive pantomime performance where she caught the eye of Premier League icon Matt Le Tissier.
The former Southampton frontman was banging in goals and had recently gone through a divorce when he first spotted Symons on stage, and the pair were smitten.
Le Tiss and Emily were so in love that they got engaged just six weeks into their relationship. They split up at the turn of the century though with Le Tissier reportedly dumping the actress 12 months before they were planning to get hitched.
After moving on from Le Tissier, she declared that she was “happy being single” before a brief romance with Emmerdale co-star Matt Healy who she duetted with in Stars In Their Eyes before things fizzled out. She also married for a second time, this time to Lorenzo Smith, but they split after two years in 2005.
Emily later returned to Australia in 2010 to continue playing Marilyn in Home and Away. She began dating Paul Jackson and had a son, Henry, who she regularly now shares on Instagram - where she has almost a quarter of a million followers.
Emily and Paul, a Nova Entertainment group programming director, split after the birth of their son. It is unknown if Emily, who is now 54, found love again but she regularly shares family photos on Instagram where she gives fans an insight into her glamorous life.
It didn’t take long for former Sky Sports pundit Le Tiss to find the love of his life either, after meeting Angela Nabulsi in a nightclub in Southampton.
He even appeared alongside her on the ITV quiz show Mr and Mrs where he said she was incomparable to his other lovers.
“There was a very strong instant connection,” he said. “There were no mobile phones in those days. I knew her name and that she was a Southampton Football Club season ticket holder.
“So I went to the office, wrote a note and left it on her seat for her to find when she came to the next home game.” He added: “I’ve never met anyone else that I would want to spend the rest of my living days with.”
An equally besotted Angela added: “I love Matthew so much. He is my world. He is an amazing father and my best friend.” The pair had a daughter together, Ava, and remain happily married to this day.
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