Emmerdale fans were left saddened as Leyla Cavanagh appeared to relapse. The character, played by Roxy Shahidi in the ITV soap, sought help last year after her secret drug addiction was discovered.
Leyla appeared to struggle with her feelings after being shot by serial killer Meena Jutla while also trying to support her husband, Liam Cavanagh, after the evil nurse pushed his daughter to her death on her 18th birthday. The wedding planner eventually sought help after she landed up in hospital.
Her son, Jacob, was devasted by his mum's actions and later lashed out at her for putting the family through the trauma of seeing her in the hospital and made her look at a photo of her with a ventilator tube in while being treated. "Do you love us?" he emotionally asked her before he demanded: "Then swear you will never put us through that again."
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And it appeared to be the wake-up call that Leyla needed as she later admitted to Liam that she was an addict and told him she would agree to go to rehab because she wanted to save their marriage. However, their marriage ended up on the rocks when Liam struggled to understand Leyla's actions.
When she returned to the village, it soon became clear their issues weren't salvageable and they ended their relationship. But over Christmas, after having to pretend to play happy families to cover for Jacob who had lied to his posh uni friend about his Liam, a doctor, being his dad, Leyla's true feelings for Liam came flooding to the surface.
On New Year's Eve, she tried to tell him how she felt only to be shut down. She then later tried again and eventually, Liam had to tell her that he didn't see their relationship working out again and pushed for her to fill in their divorce papers. During Tuesday night's trip to the Dales, despite being hurt, Leyla carried on acting unbothered and attended a family lunch she arranged ahead of Jacob return to uni.
However, things soon took a turn when Liam’s ex Bernice arrived and a tipsy Brenda revealed to the entire pub that she and Liam had been getting cosy at the recent Christmas party and even shared a kiss together, much to Leyla's horror. After overhearing the conversation, Leyla excused herself and headed home.
But it wasn't long before Liam came to make sure his estranged wife was OK and continued to insist they remain friends. Leyla, however, was left furious and shouted at Liam. Once he had left, Leyla was seen looking for her handbag but was met with an empty packet.
Desperate to take away her own pain, Leyla then began scrolling through her phone, before the screen paused on the name of her former drug dealer Callum as she burst into tears. While viewers don't yet know if Leyla will go through with taking drugs again, they did appear to spot a problem.
@mclaughlinc2000 said: "Why did she keep the drug dealer's phone number? Another storyline that's going to keep going and going and going...." @bridgittehathway commented: "Coming off the drugs she would of deleted his num not to be tempted." @kellymew_ tweeted: "Surely Leyla would have changed her number or deleted her old dealer's numbers to avoid temptation whilst going through “recovery” #emmerdale."
But that wasn't the only issue Emmerdale fans had come up with. @teenamassam tweeted "Feel a bit sorry for Leyla, Liam was no support whatsoever when she needed him, I thought it was “for better and for worse”…#emmerdale." Diane Jeanpierre wrote on Facebook: "She so needs support from her family. They got to understand what she has gone through, and be there for her."
Geraldine Kenny echoed: "She is not getting the support she needs from her family it's like they've all forgotten what she's been through .. Wish Leyla and Liam would get back together i think they make a lovely couple and if anyone can help her he can as David is just gone too depressing."
And this seems to lead on to fans' prediction that Leyla and David could reunite. The pair were an item back in 2009, before Leyla cheated on him in a drunken one-night stand. @JustGemInnit tweeted: "Oh wow David and Leyla are gonna get it on again #Emmerdale." @runninoncaffine echoed: "Bet David gonna try it on with leyla ? #Emmerdale," to which @Pilch1972 replied: "Can see it coming can't you..."
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