Soap Opera Stars Reveal Engagement

Amy Walsh, who stars in the long-running U.K. soap opera Emmerdale, is engaged to EastEnders star Toby-Alexander Smith. Walsh, 34, announced the news on Aug. 23 with photos from a family vacation in Ibiza. The couple has been dating for three years and welcomed their first child together, daughter Bonne Mae, in December.

The actress shared a trio of photos from Ibiza on Aug. 23, with the simple caption “Before. During. After.” The “before” photo showed Walsh and Smith, 31, smiling at a beachside table, while the “during” photo was a wide shot of the restaurant. The “after” picture showed Walsh wearing an engagement ring. Smith also shared the news with another beachside photo of the couple, with Walsh’s engagement ring visible. “So this happened,” he wrote.

Smith and Walsh welcomed Bonnie Mae around Christmas. “Well…it’s been a busy week! Hope you all had a good one. HAPPY NEW YEAR from the three of us,” Walsh told OK! Magazine. Walsh shared a handful of photos of Bonnie Mae, including an adorable photo with her mother on March 27 to mark Mother’s Day in the U.K.

The couple met in 2019 when they both attended a Strictly Come Dancing taping, reports The Daily Mail. They moved in together after the coronavirus pandemic began. Walsh was previously engaged to Bradley Jaden in 2018.

Walsh has starred as Tracy Metcalf on Emmerdale since 2014. She also starred in an episode of Hollyoaks Later. As for Smith, he just wrapped up a three-year run on EastEnders as Gray Adkins. He also starred in episodes of Krypton, Flack, Doctors, and Berlin Station.

Before Bonnie Mae was born, Walsh told OK! Magazine she was lucky to be pregnant because she was diagnosed with polycystic ovaries, which affect a woman’s eggs. “With me having polycystic ovaries, I was worried that would affect things, but I had the sugar glucose test for gestational diabetes and that came back fine,” she explained, via Express. “I did feel sick every day for 17 weeks but then I turned a corner. For three weeks I felt amazing and then I got pelvic girdle pain and that was rough.” Walsh said the pain was so extreme that she was unable to walk some days.

Walsh said she was “weirdly excited” to give birth and believed she was “made” to be a mother. “I’m sure everyone who’s been through it reading this will laugh but it’s something I’ve always wanted to experience,” she said last year. “I’ve always felt I was made to do it.”