Emily Atacks Tough Journey: Mother-Daughter Struggles

As the daughter of an acclaimed actress, it would be easy to assume that spent her childhood learning the ropes from her mother. 

Yet Emily's bond with mum Kate Robbins was in fact strained for many years, with The Inbetweeners star previously saying her childhood 'came crashing down' when her parents ended their 21-year marriage in 2008. 

When Kate and Keith Atack announced their separation, Emily was infuriated, recalling: 'I pulled away from Mum, started hanging out with lads and smoking and drinking. I stopped listening and did what I wanted, and by the time I was 14 I was seeing this much older lad.'

During an appearance on the How To Fail with Elizabeth Day podcast this week, Emily touched on this further, explaining that her parents 'didn't know what to do' with her when she started hanging out with older men and the 'wrong crowds' in her hometown of Luton during their divorce.

She shared: 'I was sexually active with older boys and men, and that was very difficult for my parents.

'I remember when my dad left, I remember, at the time, and I've never actually told anybody this but I was pregnant, and I was very young. I was in this awful, abusive, horrible relationship, and I fell pregnant.'

Emily continued: 'It was just in the middle of all this stuff going on with my mum and dad I remember because all of that awful stuff was going on, and obviously the pregnancy.

'I've never spoken openly about how or what happened, and I don't know if I'm ready to yet, but obviously that pregnancy didn't continue.'

It was during her turbulent years with her mother that Emily decided to pursue an acting career, having moved to London with her sister Martha.  

Emily explained: 'So when we moved into this flat, I remember little Martha looking at me and going, "What we going to do?" And I said, "I'm going to become a famous actress." I just said it. I just made sure that I did.

'As I say, my parents are amazing people, and I don't berate them in any way for this. Everybody makes mistakes, and this was just a period of time where lots of mistakes were being made, but now as a mother, I understand.

'Also, those mistakes, I think actually they've led me to be where I am now because I think a lot of people think that I had it all handed to me on a plate because of who my parents were and because my mum was an actress, but I did it by myself.'

Emily's mother Kate is known in the industry for her work on Crossroads, and also has a top 10 single under her belt with 1981 hit, More Than in Love. 

She went on to appear in the likes of EastEnders, Holby City and Silent Witness, while many will recognise her voice from Spitting Image. 

Yet Emily wanted to launch her career on her own merit, and having seen an audition for the role of The Inbetweeners' Charlotte Hincliffe in a magazine, she was determined to get the part. 

'Young. Schoolgirl. Fit. Sexy. Promiscuous. I just thought, yes! Sign me up!' Emily recalled. 

'I went into the audition room and remember saying, and I would never say this now because I understand the etiquette of an audition, "There is nobody out there that can play that role better than me. Charlotte Hincliffe is made for me. This is my role. I need this role", and they just said "OK, thank you". 

'I thought I may have ballsed it up, and then I got the role that day. From that day, my life completely changed.' 

Indeed, The Inbetweeners catapulted Emily to overnight fame at the age of 17, and as Emily adjusted to the industry, she began to work on her relationship with Kate. 

The pair are now close, after Emily confronted her mother about their difficult past. 

Emily raised her concerns about how her parents' divorce may have had an impact on her dating life during an appearance on UKTV series Adulting.

Kate agreed, confessing: 'I feel so guilty for what I put you through really, there's no doubt that it's affected your feeling of "oh don't leave me" to men.

'I think you're very cynical about men because you have trust issues from looking at your parents relationship.'

As Emily grew emotional, Kate continued: 'I feel like such a failure sometimes as a mother and I think it's absolutely affected the way Emily is.'

Emily also confronted her father, Keith saying: 'We've had amazing times as a family but we've had very difficult times as well, but I think the good and the bad mixed together is what makes us very emotional people.'

Keith replied: 'It's something I have to live with, I think for right or for wrong it went the way it did and we split up. But I do think we never wanted to break up a family.

'I know it could be better to keep up appearances but I couldn't live that life and I don't think mum would.

'Mum and I have worked out the way we are and I think that's fair enough really. You can't undo the pain that divorce brings to a family.

'When you go through it, you make the decisions you feel you have to make.

'I think it's hard as it is, it's inevitable that it will affect the way they (his children) deal with relationships. I think the way we all deal with things is subject to how our parents were with one another.'

Now Emily is a mother herself, and is raising son Barney, 23 months, with her fiancé Alistair Garner, while Kate and Keith are doting grandparents. 

Kate has also made a cameo in Emily's racy Disney+ series Rivals, with the actress revealing she filmed two episodes for series two, which is being released weekly on Disney+

The matriarch told BBC Three Counties Radio: 'Wait until you see the new series, I can't talk about anything... It's amazing.' 

Kate added that she was also on hand for babysitting duties because Emily had just given birth, so would take care of Barney while she was filming her scenes. 

In 2019, Emily and Kate discussed their strong bond, with the Dancing On Ice star saying her mother was like her 'best friend', but that there was a limit. 

During a joint appearance on Loose Women, Emily said: 'It's weird because I do act like best friends, but still I don't sit there and say my mum's my best friend, that doesn't really cover it.'

Kate added: 'We get drunk together, it's very important to teach her how to drink rosé!

'My job is a mum, the people who are mothers I think our job is to nurture our kids and not to be their best friends.

'I’ve got filthy stories I tell my girl mates but I wouldn't tell her. Then she would say: "Mum, you're talking about sex!" It's OK for you to talk about sex, well, I mean, I don't have any sex!'