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Emmerdale star Lisa Riley has bravely shared her struggles after her fertility journey.

Emmerdale actress Lisa Riley has candidly discussed her devastating fertility struggles during a heartfelt conversation on Loose Women.

The star, who plays Mandy Dingle, has previously courageously shared her experiences with IVF and her decision not to adopt. She has now spoken about finding inner peace despite not having a child.

Speaking on Loose Women on Tuesday, Lisa revealed: “I’ve spoken a lot about the fact that, me personally, being a Catholic, it was drummed into us that you don’t use contraception and you don’t have sex before marriage and everything, and that was in my head a lot.

“Then later in life, I did choose my career and [fertility tracking] apps weren’t available then to look at your cycle, and I waited and waited and found the right person in Al, and when it came to the time of trying, I couldn’t fall pregnant.

Addressing her co-star Oti Mabuse, Lisa continued: “I look now at your happiness with your husband and the baby, and you have got that career, it’s amazing, and I wasn’t that lucky and tried everything until the point where Al turned to me and said, ‘You have to stop the IVF treatment, because it’s diminishing you and taking your personality away, you’re trying too hard’.

“Sometimes in life, it’s not meant to be. And I have to sit with you girls here today knowing that, however, I’m very lucky because of my family unit.”

She went on to say that her nephews and niece have become “part of my jigsaw”, explaining: “When I couldn’t get pregnant, and feeling so rubbish in myself, and I’ve said this a lot, I felt like a jigsaw with a missing piece.

Emmerdale star makes heartbreaking admission after struggle

Emmerdale star Lisa Riley has bravely shared her struggles after her fertility journey.

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By Meghna Amin, Screen Time Reporter

13:43, Tue, Jan 20, 2026 Updated: 13:46, Tue, Jan 20, 2026

The actress has previously discussed her fertility journey (Image: Getty Images for the NTA’s)

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Emmerdale actress Lisa Riley has candidly discussed her devastating fertility struggles during a heartfelt conversation on Loose Women.

The star, who plays Mandy Dingle, has previously courageously shared her experiences with IVF and her decision not to adopt. She has now spoken about finding inner peace despite not having a child.

Actress Lisa Riley has shared her IVF struggles after being unable to have a child (Image: PA)

“Sometimes in life, it’s not meant to be. And I have to sit with you girls here today knowing that, however, I’m very lucky because of my family unit.”

Lisa plays Mandy Dingle in the long-running soap (Image: ITV)

“I felt really diminished, there’s still times at work now where I struggle when conversations go that way.”

Discussing how she feels now, Lisa revealed: “I am happy, but also, I have to be happy because I’m happy when I see my friends getting pregnant at work at Emmerdale.

“I’m over the moon for them, but there’s always going to be that little thing at the back of my head going, it didn’t work out for me.

“And I have to find peace in that, and I have. Thank god I’ve got Al, because we do that together.”

Lisa had previously addressed her choice not to pursue adoption, and during an appearance on Aimee Fuller’s Monday Mile podcast she stated: “Are you going to adopt? Wow okay so I must have children.

“I don’t think I’m psychologically strong enough if we were to go down the adoption route, my head would continuously tell me they’re going to want their birth mother every day, and I can’t cope with that.”

She added: “This is my path that I’m really okay on.”