‘Emmerdale’ star Fiona Wade has defended her character’s arranged marriage.
The 35-year-old actress – who plays Priya Sharma in ITV soap – thinks passion is much more dangerous for her character than an arranged wedding.
Speaking to The Sun newspaper, she said: "Marrying out of pure passion would be much more dangerous. I don’t think it’s such a bad thing to commit to someone quickly, I’m a bit like Priya in that way.
"You should choose someone because you have the same values and goals and are going in the same direction. That’s what Priya is doing now.
Fiona was slightly shocked when the writing team told her Priya would be having an arranged marriage – she is tying the knot with Rakesh Kotecha (Pasha Bocarie) – but she doesn’t think it’s in anyway a controversial storyline.
She explained: "When I was told about Priya’s arranged marriage I was surprised because I never saw her as a very traditional girl.
"But I don’t think it’s that controversial. She’s sick to death of guys messing her around and she wants to find one who is going to look after her. Asking her family to help is a lot better than trying to pick up someone in a nightclub, which is what she was doing before."
Fiona is single in real-life and although she is content to be on her own at the moment she would like to find a nice guy and make him her boyfriend.
She said: "I would love to get married and settle down too but so far I’ve always put career first. That’s why I’m not married. I would love to meet someone special now and settle down. But it just hasn’t happened yet."
Emmerdale’s Fiona Wade defends character’s arranged marriage
