Carla Connor has been a firm favourite with Coronation Street fans since she made her debut on the cobbles.
The famous face of soapland is played by actress Alison King - who has had her fair share of drama in her real life too.
While her character has led some hard-hitting storylines, Alison has experienced ‘immense guilt’ following the birth of her daughter, has reportedly suffered a stalking ordeal, and fallen head over heels in love with three engagements.
The 48-year-old is still waiting to walk down the aisle after the pandemic meant she had to postpone her wedding to fiance David Stuckley.
After keeping his identity a secret, the Corrie star introduced the IT salesman to the world in 2019 in an OK! exclusive.
David proposed to Alison, who he met through their personal trainer, with a ring he designed himself during a Mediterranean cruise a few days after their one-year anniversary of getting together.
At the time, Alison told OK!: ”I had an inkling he was going to pop the question because he kept putting something on my finger and going: ‘Right, close your eyes and forget this ever happened!’
“We’d also discussed marriage, too. I think we both went from: ‘No, we don’t ever need to get married,’ to: ‘Oh, we really want to get married!’.”
The award-winning soap star had already been engaged twice before, previously to Corrie sound technician Adam Huckett.
She and Adam began dating in 2007 and announced their engagement four years later, but split the following year.
They share a daughter, Daisy, who is now 12.
Before this relationship, in 2006 she got engaged to Dream Team co-star Jim Alexander. However they called it off soon after.
But the mum-of-one is said to have felt ‘immense guilt’ when she gave birth to Daisy, as it was the same day close pal and Corrie colleague Kym Marsh lost her baby son in 2009.
He tragically died moments after he had been born - which was 21 weeks and five days too early.
Kym has said Alison couldn’t properly enjoy being a new mum over the torment she felt knowing what her friend was going through.
She told her Morning Live show: “My friend Alison King, a really good friend, of mine, gave birth to her daughter on the very same day that I lost my son – literally hours apart.
"And the immense guilt that she felt at the fact that she’d delivered her baby so safely and I’d lost my son, was such a hard time for both of us."
Another difficult period for the star was when she had to ask ITV bosses for extra security due to fears of a female stalker back in 2014, according to reports.
Alison was reportedly targeted by the stalker who would often wait for her at the Corrie studios in MediaCityUK, Salford.
The Mirror reported that Alison was “constantly looking over her shoulder” and was left shaken.
“This woman is a regular at the show studio and often waits by the gates,” a source said to The Sun.
“She seems to be obsessed with Alison and has been repeatedly warned by police and our security staff to back away.
“Her behaviour has grown more intense and Alison is very distressed.
“The worry is the woman will find out where she lives.”
An ITV spokesperson declined to comment at the time.
