Zoe Henry has been praised for her emotional portrayal of Rhona Goskirk in Emmerdale as of late, with fans of the soap recently seeing the character marry her abusive partner Pierce Harris, who then went on to sexually assault his bride on their wedding day.
Vanessa is shocked to find Rhona / Credit: ITV
Now with Pierce out of the picture, at least for now, Rhona will be making her return to the village. Speaking about upcoming episodes and Rhona’s return, the actress said: “Rhona has been in a state of panic after what happened. She’s been to Cornwall, not Scotland as planned. She’s genuinely terrified about what she’s coming back to, and her state of mind is fragile and alone.
“Rhona is absolutely terrified that Pierce might come back. She doesn’t know where he is and that’s part of the terror: is he going to be in her house? Is he going to have told everybody what happened? Is he going to have made up a pack of lies? She’s really unsure of what to expect and that really frightens her.
“It’s very difficult for Rhona to step into the house, let alone the lounge where it happened. She makes herself go in with Leo, but she makes sure everything is locked up – the doors are bolted and the windows are locked. She’s a woman on the edge, but stepping into that lounge is the hardest thing she’s ever done.”
When Paddy tells Rhona’s best friend Vanessa Woodfield (Michelle Hardwick) about the split, she goes to visit her friend, but is shocked to find the house trashed and all of the wedding presents destroyed.
Zoe explains: “Rhona has kept it all together for Leo’s sake, but coming back to the house opens that can of worms again. When she gets to the lounge, she decides to deal with the wedding presents, but there’s a gift there from Pierce. When Rhona sees that, she snaps and she loses it. She sees that he bought her a wedding night gift, so the wheels come off and she loses it big time.
“Rhona would love to share all of this with someone, namely Vanessa, but their relationship has broken down because of Pierce – to the point where Rhona feels almost responsible. It’s not that the attack was Rhona’s fault, but she feels somehow she brought it on and she could have stopped it. There’s a lot of guilt involved with how she’s treated Vanessa and she feels very alone.”
Emmerdale airs weeknights at 7pm on ITV with an extra episode on Thursdays at 8pm.
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