Coronation Street's Jane Hazlegrove reveals how she responds to daily homophobia
The former Casualty star fell in love with fellow actress Isobel Middleton 30 years ago, and the pair wed once same sex marriage was legalised in the UK.
Soap fans will recognise Isobel as Emmerdale's DI Roberts, the detective who led the investigation into the murder of Anthony Fox earlier this year.
She has also starred in Mr Bates vs the Post Office, and even had her own role on the cobbles.
Though a lot of things have changed since the couple first met, Jane sadly revealed that she and Isobel still face daily homophobia – but she has the perfect way of dealing with it.
'You still meet homophobia every day, but I just smile at the homophobes and try to educate them and lead from the front,' she told The Mirror.
Reflecting on her marriage, Jane gushed about her wedding day, saying: 'I love a wedding, but I never thought that I'd actually get to have my own big party, full of all the people that I love and lots of laughter.
'It was a beautiful thing and a bit of a shock. I still can't believe it and I'm so proud that we've done it and I'm so proud of my love for Isobel. It's my greatest achievement, regardless of the career.'
With thousands of members from all over the world, our vibrant LGBTQ+ WhatsApp channel is a hub for all the latest news and important issues that face the LGBTQ+ community.
Simply click on this link, select 'Join Chat' and you're in! Don't forget to turn on notifications!
She continued: 'I just can't believe that I'm allowed to love this woman and live the life that I live without being persecuted and hounded.'
Jane previously opened up about her experiences at Pride for Metro, writing about how she went from being worried about bumping into someone she knew at her first Pride event, to standing proudly atop the Coronation Street float. More Trending
'Somewhere among [the crowd] may have been a shy young woman uncertain about her sexuality, hoping that no-one she knew saw her there, but I like to think that times have changed, and mostly for the better,' Jane wrote.
'That young woman today can see role models in almost all areas of life, including LGBTQ+ actors appearing in our best loved soaps, who are able to work and be celebrated for who they are.
View More »
'Of course, prejudice and injustice still remain, and our fight continues, but Pride shows us that there is strength in sharing the love and holding each other's hands.'
MORE: As queer women, we couldn't be more proud of the 'Lesbian-esses'
MORE: Coronation Street star thanks fans for concern after undergoing major operation
MORE: Coronation Street legend confirms return with tongue in cheek swipe at the show
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
21 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Coronation Street favourite will make a sensational return to the show as new Rovers Return landlord... as ITV strike back after EastEnders reinstated Kat Slater and Alfie Moon at the Queen Vic
Coronation Street bosses have taken action to ensure the show's infamous pub isn't outshone by EastEnders' reinstatement of Kat and Alfie Moon at the Vic. In a bid to ensure that soap fans' eyes are also on the Rovers Return, they have brought back Catherine Tyldesley, 41, (AKA Eva Price) as the pub's new sexy landlady. She will not be alone in catering to the drinking needs of Weatherfield and will be joined by Aaron McCusker, 46, who will play her new husband. An insider told The Sun: 'Corrie bosses were never going to take EastEnders ' shrewd decision to reinstate Kat and Alfie at the Vic lying down. 'So they took their time looking for the perfect actor to play her husband to Eva as she makes her return to Corrie as the new boss of the Rovers. 'When Aaron walked in, and once paired with Catherine, bosses knew they had the perfect partnership to run the soap's iconic pub.' Describing the pair's chemistry as 'electric', the insider noted that Aaron will bring his Irish charm to the pub as the pair put on a 'happy and loved-up' display. However, despite having all the friendliness associated with the Irish, the insider stressed that Aaron is not a character to be messed with. They added: 'It's the start of an exciting new chapter in the pub's history.' In case your memory needs refreshing, Cath left the show back in 2018 to pursue other acting opportunities and bosses have reportedly been trying to convince her to return for years. While Aaron is a newbie to the cobbles, fans might recognise him from the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, where he played Freddie Mercury's partner, Jim Hutton. The actor also made a name for himself in Shameless as Jamie Maguire. News of the latest change on the cobblestones comes after it was announced that the show had been pulling in record viewers after making one recent change. The change took place in October 2024, when the long-running show became available to view on ITVX from 7am on the day of broadcast. Describing the pair's chemistry as 'electric', the insider noted that Aaron will bring his Irish charm to the pub as the pair put on a 'happy and loved-up' display This meant that soap fans could either chose to tune in early or watch their favourite soaps at a time that better suits them. The decision to make the change came after BBC soap East Enders made a similar switch to iPlayer a few years ago. Following the change, both Corrie and Emmerdale, which also made the switch, have enjoyed a record 124 million streams in 2025's first quarter. This meant that there have been an impressive one billion streams on ITVX so far this year. To put the change into context, compared to this time last year, soap viewing has increased by 35 percent. ITV's Managing Director of Media and Entertainment Kevin Lygo said: 'We have totally transformed our streaming offer with ITVX over the past couple of years. 'All our teams internally, alongside the best producers in the business, have helped deliver these brilliant numbers, by producing, promoting and delivering this fantastic content to audiences to stream.'
Scottish Sun
an hour ago
- Scottish Sun
The 1% Club's difficult word question causes final two players to miss out on huge jackpot – but did you get it right?
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) A TRICKY word question on The 1% Club saw two players miss out on a huge jackpot - but could you get it right? Lee Mack hosts the ITV quiz, renowned for its challenging brainteasers. Sign up for the Entertainment newsletter Sign up 4 Could you work out this tricky question on The 1% Club? Credit: ITV 4 Lee Mack hosts the popular ITV game show Credit: ITV 4 Contestant Phil had a crack at the tricky final question Credit: ITV Contestants who reach the final round - the 1% question - have a chance to win up to £100,000. One episode saw three people reach the very end - Victoria, Phil and Anne. Victoria opted to take her share of £10,000, while the other two decided to play for the £99,000 jackpot. The question was: "All the words in this list have something specific in common. What is it?" Meanwhile, the four words were: Into, Therefore, Evaluate and Benign. Anne shared she'd answered that all four words "had names in them". As for Phil, he'd gone with that all four contained two words - but then ruled this out due to benign. Unfortunately for the pair, both of them turned out to be incorrect and lost out on the prize. Lee revealed: "They all end with the sound of a number - two, four, eight and nine." It's not the first time contestants have been left flummoxed on The 1% Club. The 1% Club knocks out 25 players with a deceptively easy question On another occasion, a whopping 25 people were knocked out on a counting question. An image popped up on to the big screen that showed a brick wall with golden bricks, but some of the bricks in the middle were missing. The question asked: "How many bricks are missing from this wall?" As the 30 seconds ticked down, Lee quipped: "Where are Pink Floyd when you need them." The puzzle appeared to be just a simple matter of counting. However, after the time was up it was revealed that a whopping 25 people had got it wrong, wiping themselves out of the competition and leaving 70 competitors remaining. But were you able to work out the correct answer? It was later revealed to be 12. The 1% Club airs on ITV1 and ITVX.
The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
The 1% Club's difficult word question causes final two players to miss out on huge jackpot – but did you get it right?
A TRICKY word question on The 1% Club saw two players miss out on a huge jackpot - but could you get it right? Lee Mack hosts the ITV quiz, renowned for its challenging brainteasers. 4 4 4 Contestants who reach the final round - the 1% question - have a chance to win up to £100,000. One episode saw three people reach the very end - Victoria, Phil and Anne. Victoria opted to take her share of £10,000, while the other two decided to play for the £99,000 jackpot. The question was: "All the words in this list have something specific in common. What is it?" Meanwhile, the four words were: Into, Therefore, Evaluate and Benign. Anne shared she'd answered that all four words "had names in them". As for Phil, he'd gone with that all four contained two words - but then ruled this out due to benign. Unfortunately for the pair, both of them turned out to be incorrect and lost out on the prize. Lee revealed: "They all end with the sound of a number - two, four, eight and nine." It's not the first time contestants have been left flummoxed on The 1% Club. The 1% Club knocks out 25 players with a deceptively easy question On another occasion, a whopping 25 people were knocked out on a counting question. An image popped up on to the big screen that showed a brick wall with golden bricks, but some of the bricks in the middle were missing. The question asked: "How many bricks are missing from this wall?" As the 30 seconds ticked down, Lee quipped: "Where are Pink Floyd when you need them." The puzzle appeared to be just a simple matter of counting. The 1% Club's Most Difficult Questions The 1% Club sees 100 contestants try and make it to the 1% question and be in with a chance to win a share of the jackpot. Here are just some of the show's most difficult teasers. Players had to compare and contrast three images of butterflies then explain which of the butterflies were exactly the same on both sides. Find the image and answer here. Players were shown groups of six symbols then asked which were in the same order whether you read them from left to right or right to left. Find the image and answer here. Players were asked how many different combinations were there of displaying four digits on one hand. Find the answer here. Peter had recently found his old diary that he'd written in secret code but he couldn't remember how to decipher what he wrote. Players were asked to crack the code and find out what the bold word was. WH89 I GR1W UP I WA92 21 B8 A 5L1RI72. Find the image and answer here. Players were tasked with working out how many eyes they could see in an image, which was made up of letters, symbols and emojis. Find the image and the answer here. A 1% question was based on a grid of numbers going in ascending order from 1 to 49. Starting on 25, the middle square, SEEN took you to square 27. From there, NEW took you to 20. From there, which square would SEWN take you to? Find the image and the answer here. And finally, an easy one - What common food in bold has had its letters rearranged into alphabetical order? ABDER If you really don't know you can find the answer here. However, after the time was up it was revealed that a whopping 25 people had got it wrong, wiping themselves out of the competition and leaving 70 competitors remaining. But were you able to work out the correct answer? It was later revealed to be 12. 4
