![\"Tanisha](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/4_The-TRIC-Awards-2023-VIP-Arrivals.jpg\")
Tanisha Gorey likes to watch Disney films to relax(Image: Dave Benett\/Getty Images)<\/p>\nTanisha Gorey may be battling depression and anxiety on the ITV soap as Asha Alahan, but she tells The Mirror how she’s found a way to relax off screen with the support of her boyfriend<\/p>\n
18:35, 01 Oct 2025Updated 18:35, 01 Oct 2025<\/p>\n
Tanisha Gorey likes to watch Disney films to relax(Image: Dave Benett\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
After filming some harrowing scenes on Coronation Street,<\/a> Tanisha Gorey has found the perfect way to relax \u2013 chilling on the sofa with a Disney<\/a> movie.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been weeks and weeks of 12-hour days, being sad and depressed<\/a> and crying,\u201d Tanisha says. \u201cSometimes it gets in your head and I really noticed that I was bringing it home with me.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause I was learning lines for the next day, there wasn\u2019t a turn-off or escape from it. It is heavy, so my boyfriend pulls me out of it. \u201cHe\u2019ll say: \u2018Let\u2019s watch something a bit light-hearted tonight.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m really embarrassed to admit it, but I\u2019m a Disney channel girl, so two of the films I had to put on to cheer myself up were Hannah Montana: The Movie and High School Musical! Anything that\u2019s light that reminds me of childhood and takes my mind off work.\u201d<\/p>\n READ MORE: Loose Women’s Coleen Nolan reveals which sister had an affair with her boyfriend<\/a>READ MORE: Coronation Street’s Sally Ann Matthews’ final scenes as Jenny Connor star makes sad exit<\/a>READ MORE: Hollyoaks star breaks silence on ‘unexpected’ exit after just one year on Channel 4 soap<\/a> Tanisha, 23, says her partner Lucas Whelan is even happy to watch the films with her. \u201cHe\u2019s great,\u201d she smiles. \u201cHe\u2019s very supportive and very giving; he\u2019s the most perfect person in my life. When I get home at 8 o\u2019clock, my tea is cooked, the house is clean and the washing\u2019s been done. He\u2019s really supportive.\u201d<\/p>\n Lucas woks in finance, but gives it his best shot when helping Tanisha with her lines. \u201cHe will be the other characters \u2013 Dev, Bernie, Nina and Summer,\u201d she says. \u201cHe\u2019s not an actor, so it\u2019s hilarious \u2013 his job is the complete opposite of what I do, but I think he quite enjoys it!\u201d<\/p>\n Viewers have seen Asha struggle with her mental health as she battles to cope with the stresses of her job as a paramedic. In a special one-off episode last month, she was subjected to vile racist abuse by a woman called Naomi during a traumatic shift.<\/p>\n Bumping into Naomi again triggered awful memories of the incident and it soon becomes clear just how badly Asha is affected. When her dad Dev discovers that she has lied about going back to work, she storms out before telling him she\u2019s going to quit.<\/p>\n She later changes her mind, but after returning, it\u2019s clear she feels out of her depth and everything comes to a head as she helps dad Dev out in his corner shop.<\/p>\n Tanisha says: \u201cShe\u2019s drinking wine behind the counter and she\u2019s at peace with the decision she\u2019s made to end her life. People often say that about people who have taken their own life \u2013 that they seemed their happiest before it happened, because their head isn\u2019t torn anymore.<\/p>\n \u201cShe leaves the shop and heads down the street in tears, but she\u2019s found and an ambulance is called. In hospital, she tells Dev that it all became too much and she took the booze and pills with the intention of killing herself.<\/p>\n \u201cShe tells him that she\u2019s glad it didn\u2019t work. But she\u2019s not in the clear and when she comes home, we see her still suffering from depression. I think that\u2019s important \u2013 to show it\u2019s not always a quick fix. For people who are struggling, it shows it\u2019s OK to ask for help again.\u201d<\/p>\n Tanisha says she is glad Coronation Street<\/a> is exposing just how damaging racial abuse can be, having experienced it herself from a young age. Growing up in Oldham, Gtr Mancheser with white parents who ran a local pub, she says she attracted attention.<\/p>\n She recalls: \u201cMy sibling is white, my mum is white, my step-dad is white and my grandparents are white. My area was predominantly white, I grew up with casual racism. It was a very different childhood and there were always questions thrown at my family \u2013 \u2018where has she come from, because she\u2019s not white\u2019. I\u2019ve dealt with it, but sometimes it can be worse than others.\u201d<\/p>\n This is Tanisha\u2019s 17th year on the cobbles, having started when she was only six. She started out as a baby model then, when Coronation Street needed child actors to play Dev\u2019s twins Asha and Aadi, she successfully auditioned. \u201cI didn\u2019t even know what Corrie was \u2013 and here I am, 17 years later,\u201d she smiles.<\/p>\n Tanisha has featured in several groundbreaking storylines, most notably Asha\u2019s 2019 struggle with body image, when she used dangerous skin-lightening cream. \u201cThat was my favourite story,\u201d she reflects. \u201cI got a great response \u2013 people still talk to me about it.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam Hussein, who played Asha\u2019s twin brother Aadi, recently left the show, but Tanisha won\u2019t be following him anytime soon. \u201cAdam wanted to see the world<\/a> and do other things, but for me my brain has to finish something before starting something new,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not ready to leave. I haven\u2019t been through the mill like Gail Platt, where she\u2019s been thrown into the canal and married a serial killer. There\u2019s more I can do!\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Asha](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/26_08_coro_asha_dev_aadi_01.jpg\")
Asha Alahan (L) hugs on-screen brother Aadi Alahan (R) and dad Dev Alahan centre. <\/p>\n![\"Asha](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0_Coronation-Street-TV-Show-Episodes-11669-11686-UK-Sep-2025.jpg\")
Asha Alahan, as played by Tanisha Gorey, is shaken when she comes face to face with Naomi, as played by Melissa Batchelor(Image: ITV\/Danielle Baguley\/Shutterstock)<\/p>\n![\"Craig](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0_Coronation-Street-TV-Show-Episodes-11560-11578-UK-May-2025.jpg\")
Tanisha Gorey has played Asha for 17 years and is now a paramedic on Coronation Street(Image: ITV\/Danielle Baguley\/Shutterstock)<\/p>\n![\"Kylie,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0_Coronation-Street-TV-Series-Jul-2016.jpg\")
Asha, played by Tanisha, once locked Max Platt in the annexe(Image: ITV\/Shutterstock)<\/p>\n