Emmerdale star Natalie J Robb has opened up about her heartbreak following the sad death of her ‘soul mate’.
Natalie shot to fame playing Moira Dingle on the ITV soap way back in 2009, rocking up to the village with the rest of the Barton clan. Since then, she’s become a firm favourite and has been involved in several big storylines.
From her village romances to a recent brain tumour battle, Moira’s time in the Dales has not been short of drama.
Away from the soap though, Natalie was hit with heartbreak in February 2024, when her beloved rescue dog, Bronson, died aged 15.
Natalie rescued her ‘soul mate’ Bronson, a crossbreed of Japanese Akita and Rottweiler, aged two and the pair were inseparable.
Talking about his death, she told Mirror: “I hadn’t experienced grief like it and it was awful. I missed him so much. I found it particularly hard coming home from a day’s filming and him not being there. It was tough.”
The soap star then revealed how she has made sure Branson is with her at all times. Natalie said: “I had a necklace made with his chest hair inside and he is by my heart. I never take it off other than when I am playing Moira.”
Last summer though, Natalie had a dream about a “big blonde dog running through the woods” with her.
A few weeks later she spotted an advert from a Spanish rescue centre for “a mastiff dog looking exactly the same as the one in my dream”.
She went on: “It was as if Bronson was telepathic and sending me a message. I rang them up and while I couldn’t meet him because of work, I saw lots of videos of him. Because of the dream, I knew this dog was for me.”
Four-and-a-half months after Natalie made her first enquiry, her new pup Buddy arrived by boat in the UK last November.