Emmerdale star Lisa Riley shares the heartbreaking reason she will never marry her fiancé Al after four year engagement

Lisa Riley has announced that she will not be going ahead with marrying her fiancé Al, after suffering the loss of her mother-in-law earlier this year.

The actress, 46, from Bury, who is best known for playing Mandy Dingle in Emmerdale, lost her “beloved” mother 10 years ago after a battle with cancer.

She has always known her big day would be heartbreaking without her late mother by her side. However, the additional loss of Al’s mother has made the couple reconsider their perspecive on marriage.

Lisa told the Mirror that they’ve decided not to make any changes to their relationship, saying: “Both of us talk about it all the time and feel as long as we’re happy we don’t need rings on our fingers.

“We’ve lost both our mums. And when it comes to things like weddings, you do it for the other people.”

Lisa explained that she wouldn’t want to change her name and because she is always wearing her soap character’s jewellery, she wouldn’t be able to wear a wedding ring.

She added that she has never dreamed of having a “big flouncy day with a horse and carriage.”

Last month, Lisa posted a tribute to her mother on Instagram, describing her as an “angel”.

She wrote: "Ten years ago today, I lost my world. I’ve written everything below. don’t be alone when dealing with #grief #keeptalking #pain #today #anniversary."

She explained how her “beloved” mum, Cath, lost her battle with cancer and that she has since had the “biggest hole” in her heart.

Lisa also said that she would “struggle the most coming to terms with how young she was”.

The 46-year-old had to support her fiancé after his own loss earlier this year.

The actress and Al have been engaged for four years, having met through mutual friends in 2014.

They have kept their relationship relatively private and Lisa has not made her American musician’s full name public.

Lisa first joined Emmerdale as Mandy Dingle in 1995, appearing as Tina Dingle’s cousin at her wedding to Luke McAllister.

However, Lisa proved so popular that producers invited her to return full-time the following year.

She was a key part of the soap until 2000 and returned occasionally over the years before committing to the soap again in 2019.

The actress recently posted a throwback of her soap era  to Instagram, posing alongside Zak Dingle (played by Steve Halliwell) and Marlon Dingle (played by Mark Charnock).

Over 1,000 people liked the post and it received a flood of positive comments.

“Love Dingles Emmerdale best soap on tv, 50yrs this Yr!!!!!,” one person wrote.

Another said: “LOVE this photo! I’ve got it on the wall in the office”