Corrie’s Shelley King, who plays Yasmeen Nazir, has opened up about her autism diagnosis – and it appears she has a few reservations if her character was to have a similar storyline
Coronation Street favourite Shelley King has opened up about her recent health diagnosis.
The actress, 67, plays Yasmeen Nazir on the ITV soap – making her debut in 2014. And on Monday (June 3) Shelley appeared on GMB to discuss her recent autism diagnosis.
“It didn’t come as a surprise to a lot of my friends,” Shelley said talking about her diagnosis. She added: “They were like ‘this is why you’re late all the time’ and why ‘you fly off the handle occasionally and then apologise profusely’.”
Host Susanna Reid then asked: “What made you go to a specialist and seek a diagnosis?” Shelley replied: “Well my partner, her brother is autistic.
“And she’s been trying to persuade me to get diagnosed for some years. Just to help me understand things that have happened in my life,” she added.
Shelley then revealed how she got her diagnosis last year aged 67. When asked if the recent diagnosis has helped her , Shelley replied: “Yes, it’s explained a lot of things about my past. About my educational difficulties sometimes.”
She also shared how she often struggled working at the soap due where “things change all the time’ including last minute script or line changes.
Shelley added: “On my first day 10 years ago, I hadn’t met any of the cast before. So I find that difficult, meeting new people. It took me a good few months, to get to know the people I’m working with. I’m not very used to change.”
When quizzed if viewers could see her character Yasmeen go through something similar on the soap, Shelley replied: “Well, yes.” However, it appears she has some reservations over the potential storyline.
She shared: “The thing is, you need to explore it over time.” Referring to how each autistic is different, Shelley added: “If you met one autistic person, you have met one. So if we are to explore it, I think needs a great deal of time to do so.”
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