Rebecca is best known for portraying drama queen Hayley Collins on RTÉ soap Fair City, but thankfully her life is nothing like that of her on-screen character’s
Rebecca Grimes as Fair City’s Hayley Collins(Image: www.kipcarroll.com)
Actress Rebecca Grimes says as a mum, having a consistent acting job like Fair City is a blessing.
The soap star is best known for portraying Hayley Collins on the long-running RTÉ serial drama.
Wherever Hayley is, chaos is not far behind her and her husband James Rafferty, with the couple always finding themselves in trouble.
But in real life, Rebecca is happily married to husband Paul and the pair are doting parents to daughter Dara, who was born in 2024.
Rebecca is thrilled she can balance acting with motherhood.
She told RSVP Magazine: “It’s amazing. I’ve always been so grateful for and appreciative of Fair City.
“As an actor it’s just a gift. Since I’ve had Dara, that appreciation has just increased tenfold.
“You know when you’re working, you know when you’re off, and it’s that little bit easier to arrange childcare.
“It also means I have a good chunk of time off to be with her as well.
“I’m just finishing a period of five weeks off, and I got to really enjoy my time with her.
“We enjoyed some great quality time and it really is just the best of both worlds.
“I’m very grateful and lucky.”
Rebecca loves nothing more than being a mum to her little girl.
“Time has gone so fast. Dara is a brilliant little girl, and just so much fun,” she told us.
“I took her out to Newbridge farm recently and Paul asked me how it was and I just thought, she is just such a great girl.
“I know I’m biased because I’m her mum but she’s great.
“She’s so easy, very chilled and good fun to be around.
“We want to spend as much time as possible with her in the good weather over the summer.
“I love gardening, and she loves coming out to help me in the garden with the shovel. It’s very cute.”
Rebecca’s husband Paul works in the corporate world, and the actress says it “totally” helps that he has a “normal job” when she is busy filming.
She said: “You kind of hit your stride with it.
“You think, how is this going to all work out? But it always falls into place.
“We have great support around us too, which we’re so lucky for.”
Rebecca and Paul first met at a concert, but it was a while before they came a couple.
“I met him at a Damien Dempsey concert,” she said.
“He had actually messaged me on Instagram before to ask me out, but I didn’t answer him.
“Then I met him in person at the concert, we got chatting and realised he was the guy who had previously messaged me. He was so lovely.
“I was going out with someone at the time and I let him know I wasn’t interested.
“But that relationship ended and he messaged me again a little while later and I just was in a ‘yes to life’ kind of mood.
“It was during lockdown, so we met up for a socially distanced walk and coffee and I thought, oh, this is going well.
“And it all happened very quickly from there.”
Rebecca has a busy summer of filming planned, but is hoping to fit in some more quality family time too.
She said: “We recently got back from Italy. I booked it as a surprise trip for Paul’s birthday and didn’t tell him where we were going until the morning of and he was so excited.
“Now I’m back filming and that takes me through the rest of the summer.
“I’m really looking forward to getting stuck into a big chunk of work.
“There is drama ahead for Hayley. I can’t imagine the road ahead being too smooth for her, because it never is.
“We’ll see, maybe me and the family will have a late summer jaunt, but who knows? I was lucky to get away at all.”
RSVP July 26 cover
Read the full interview with Rebecca in this month’s issue of RSVP Magazine, on shelves nationwide now.
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