Kelli Hollis left Emmerdale back in 2015
EastEnders favourite Bobby Brazier is reportedly ditching showbiz to move to India to practice the Hare Krishna religion, but he is not the first soap star to quit acting to move abroad.
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That is because former Emmerdale actress Kelli Hollis, who played Ali Spencer, also proved the grass can be greener, after leaving England to run her own “weed bar”. She previously spoke exclusively to the Daily Star about her surprising new life in south-east Asia where her partner Martin helps her manage the La Choza Pratumnak bar in Pattaya.
And speaking about leaving her old life behind for good, she said: “I am never coming home, never going home. Obviously I miss England and there are aspects of my life there like I have two grown up children at home and a grandson.
“But you only live once and I have learned that a lot over the last few years, losing friends to things and my friend losing a child and it just makes you access a lot of things in your life.
“You just have to do what you have to do because you are not promised tomorrow are you? My mentality now is I am nearly 50 f*** it will just do it. There is no point having that ‘oh God I can’t do this and I can’t do that’ attitude. I have been so fortunate in my life that opportunities have come my way.”
Kelli Hollis and Alicia Eyo appeared on Emmerdale together(Image: ITV)
Kelli is best known for her work in Shameless and also being the mum to Sean and Amelia in Emmerdale from 2011 until 2015. She still speaks to her former soap colleagues and said one of her best memories was day one when she met Amelia (played by Daisy Campbell) who was just six at the time.
While Bobby is reportedly moving to India for spiritual reasons, Kelli, who is from Leeds, moved to the other side of the world by “total accident” after Martin was offered a job with a car company in Bangkok.
After some travelling, the pair got a licence to sell marijuana, and asked what her teenage self would have made of her decision, she laughed: “This would probably have been more likely than me being an actress.”
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However, despite not upping sticks for similar reasons to Bobby, she did say the spiritual and religious differences became an unexpected benefit.
She said: “You have to always see the good and positive and obviously it is a Buddhist country and I am not a religious person but I really like that mentality and it has really grown on me and it has helped me as a person.”
She shares updates about her new life abroad on TikTok
Her customers inside her bar are often older expats and although weed is one of the products she sells, it is not something Kelli personally indulges in to get high.
She explained that she smoked here and there in her younger years but never heavily. The actress also said she never liked the feeling of being stoned and getting high.
Kelli, who now updates her fans on TikTok where she has 307,000 followers, added: “I don’t know if it is because I have always worked and I’ve always had kids so I suppose it is like anything you can have a little cheeky glass of wine but you are not going to drink the whole bottle so I suppose it is the equivalent of that.
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“But honestly yeah I actually don’t like the feeling. But to be honest I have become a little partial to the edibles here obviously because I have to test the products. But that is not to be stoned. I promote ours for rest and for aches and pains for people who don’t want to smoke so I will have mine before bed.”
