04 December 2023 , 13:00
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ITV Emmerdale's Claire King has said she "thrives" off wolf-whistles and tells men to "keep it coming".
The actress - who plays Kim Tate on the soap - said that it’s "good to see a woman stand up for herself" and she doesn't stand for any 'BS'. She explained that when she gets wolf-whistled regularly and always replied back to men who pay her attention.
The 61-year-old first found fame when she made her debut on Emmerdale back in 1989. She was on the programme for a decade before leaving and coming back 20 years later.
She has been a fan favourite ever since and has been involved in plenty of big storylines. Claire came back in 2019 and has been a staple on the screen since.
Claire was married to her co-star (ITV)
Claire joined Emmerdale in 1989Speaking to The Sun on Sunday Claire said: "If someone whistles at me from a scaffold I’ll just stand there, whistle back and tell them to keep it coming! I’m more of a Gilf than a Milf. And it’s the younger fans who didn’t really remember Kim from the first time around that absolutely love her.
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"It’s also good for them, especially in this age of social media, to see a woman who stands up for herself, is independent and doesn’t take any BS."
Claire first set foot in the Yorkshire Dales as Kim in December 1989 and some fans will recall she fled with her son, Jamie Tate and £190,000 of her stepson's money. Claire used to be married to Peter Amory who played her on-screen stepson Chris Tate in the ITV soap.
However, she has now been with another man for the last 15 years but tends to keep her romantic life private now. Claire opened up on her new relationship in 2020 as she told OK!: "When I was married to Pete, we couldn't help being in the public eye as we worked together. But, luckily, that wasn't in the time of social media.
"My partner now isn't in the business, and that suits me perfectly well. He isn't interested in the business, and that keeps me grounded - not that I need grounding."
Peter and Claire got married in 1994, but their marriage ended a decade later when Claire found out he was having an affair with one of their co-stars. He was having an affair with Samatha Giles, who plays Bernice Blackstock in the Yorkshire-based soap.
Both of them claimed they were estranged from their partners when the affair began, but Claire insisted the relationship began years before that after she had left the soap.
"I had a feeling that something was going on," she told the Mirror back in 2005. She added: "I was working in London and we were spending less and less time together. I was travelling back to Yorkshire every weekend. I remember Pete saying that I only came back to see my dogs and horses... and I thought: 'Well, yeah, and to catch you at it!"