SHE appeared on The Real Housewives Of Cheshire as the teenage daughter of Dawn Ward – and now Taylor Ward is having her own moment in the limelight.
The Wag, wed to former Manchester City footballer Riyad Mahrez, is one of the main stars of Prime Video series Married To The Game which has its second season out this week.
And while it was an easy transition for influencer Taylor, the same can’t be said for Dawn, who makes her first appearance in the series tomorrow – as she’s used to being the star.
Taylor told me: “Mum was one of the people that was like, ‘You really should take the opportunity to do the show’, as I was really worried about whether I’d get perceived wrong, or if people would take me the wrong way. But she encouraged me to do it and to be myself.
“But what’s funny is that she’s not used to being the sub-character, she’s used to being the main character.
“So being on Married To The Game is different for her.
“Luckily, she’s easy going and she’s just happy to get involved whenever they want her to be, and she’s really enjoyed being on the show with me.
“She likes watching it all back, and will hold her own screening when it comes out tomorrow.”
For Taylor, the series has been an opportunity to showcase her personality, now that she’s all grown up, married and mum to daughter Mila and stepchildren Inaya and Ayla from Riyad’s former marriage to model Rita Johal.
Taylor added: “Everything’s very different now to how it was on Housewives. I’ve moved to Saudi, I’ve got my kids, I’m married. I’ve grown up a lot and I’ve matured a lot.”
Taylor takes inspiration from Victoria Beckham and Coleen Rooney when it comes to having a career or her own while juggling a family and keeping up with Riyad’s football.
She said: “Being part of Married To The Game appealed to me because it was about the women, our lives and careers, and not just being married to a footballer.
[bc_video account_id=”5067014667001″ application_id=”” aspect_ratio=”16:9″ autoplay=”” caption=”Pregnant Taylor Ward reveals she’s having a girl with footballer boyfriend Riyad Mahrez in sweet gender reveal” embed=”in-page” experience_id=”” height=”100%” language_detection=”” max_height=”360px” max_width=”640px” min_width=”0px” mute=”” padding_top=”56%” picture_in_picture=”” player_id=”default” playlist_id=”” playsinline=”” sizing=”responsive” video_id=”6305613551112″ video_ids=”” width=”640px”]“Obviously that is a massive part of it, but I had my own career before Riyad – and it’s nice to be able to have my own identity, not just that label of ‘wife’.
“People like Victoria, Coleen – who I know and love – I don’t look at them and admire them because they’re the wife of someone else, I admire them for what they’ve done in their lives.
“Being a Wag nowadays is different. It’s a lot more than it used to be, and it’s nice to see women getting recognition, too.”
THE four contenders for the Gladiators finale on Saturday have been confirmed – after Zavia crashed out of the BBC One show with an injury.
Gymnast Joe Fishburn, youth worker Mus Dumbuya, gym owner Amanda Wah and teacher Aneila Afsar will battle it out for the title.
CJ SHALL SHIRLEY DO WELL
HIS voice wowed the Britain’s Got Talent judges, including his pal Bruno Tonioli, over the weekend.
But CJ Emmons, who sings live on US TV’s Dancing With The Stars where Bruno is on the panel, has another famous fan.
He revealed: “Shirley Bassey heard me singing Goldfinger on Dancing With The Stars. She was excited to meet me and told me to never give up. I nearly fainted.”
He added: “I auditioned for America’s Got Talent about six times and could never land it, but Britain’s Got Talent accepted me first time. I’ll forever be grateful. Bruno has seen me on DWTS and I truly believe he is happy I’m getting a shot on the show.”
BGT continues on Saturday on ITV.
DISASTER STRIKES FOR DIANE
DIANE KRUGER seems to be running from trouble as Jess in this first look at Paramount+ psychological thriller Little Disasters.
The six-part series sees Diane as a stay-at-home mum whose life begins to unravel when her baby daughter suffers a head injury she can’t explain.
When she takes her to A&E, the on-duty doctor is her close friend Liz (Jo Joyner), and she must make the hard decision of whether to inform social services.
With one call, Liz sets in motion a chain of events that ripples through their friendship group, who have been close-knit since meeting at an antenatal class a decade ago.
It pushes Jess to breaking point as she battles to take care of her children while being kept at a distance by the authorities.
Little Disasters will air later this spring.
IT’S the sci-fi mystery that has gripped viewers around the world – and now Severance’s writer Dan Erickinson has revealed the idea for the series came from his old job.
His drama stars Adam Scott and Britt Lower as office workers whose memories are surgically divided between their work and personal lives.
Dan said how he had to catalogue door parts in a factory – a job he said he “hated”.
He told Edith Bowman on the Soundtracking podcast: “I just found myself thinking, ‘If I have to go in today, I would prefer to just skip ahead to the eight hours and disassociate’ and Severance just kind of came from that.”
Severance series one and two are available