Corrie star reveals they spent childhood living in a cult: 'My parents were taken advantage of'

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Coronation Street’s newest face looks set to cause a whole lot of trouble for Leanne Battersby (Jane Danson). Cult mentor Rowan Cunliffe, played by Emrhys Cooper, has been attempting to entice Leanne into the organisation with his motivational seminars and dodgy business plans.

Incredibly, for 39 year old Emrhys, the storyline is very close to home. “My parents have encountered quite a few of Rowan’s type over the years,” he says. “I didn’t understand it growing up, but as I got older, I witnessed first hand some of the dangers of these types of characters. “My parents did wind up in a cult,” Rowan continues. “It was actually a wellness, fitness, spiritual cult.

It presented itself as a kind of workout, feel good fitness mentality, and it was only as they got further in and gave more money that it became sinister.

My parents are intelligent people – just very open-hearted, and they’ve been taken advantage of many times.” As Emrhys opens up about his personal experience, he also reveals a harrowing story about his mother. “She had a prescription for high blood pressure and a holistic doctor told her she could get off her medication with a herbal remedy – but she had a heart attack,” he explains. “She promised she would go back on her prescription, but she didn’t, and four years ago, suffered a severe stroke that left her paralysed.” On the cobbles, Leanne has been taken in by Rowan’s charm, and Emrhys warns that his character is dangerous, although he doesn’t realise it because he’s been brainwashed himself. “Rowan is high up at the Autovalent Institute, he’s charming but not slimy,” he explains.