Emmerdale has confirmed a major storyline for Gabby Thomas, as the character develops orthorexia, an eating disorder characterised by a fixation on the quality of food.

In recent episodes, Gabby has been exhibiting worrying behaviour around food and how much she is eating, and in a new interview actress Rosie Bentham has revealed the extent of her fixation.

“I do see that Gabby will develop this,” Bentham said in a new interview. “She is losing control of her life in many aspects – love interests, not finding her place, and her mum being away in Portugal. While Orthorexia isn’t currently a recognised eating disorder, it is an excessive concern for everything going into her body.

“It will be interesting to see how this plays out regarding her relationships, her son Thomas, and her job in the food industry.”

Bentham explained that while Gabby “starts out with a wholesome stance, consuming the same content we all see daily”, she is “starting to become obsessed”.

She added: “Filming these scenes is interesting because we are all guilty of “doom scrolling” or being at the forefront of content creation. It is about looking good, feeling confident, and being in control-something that eventually takes over her life.”

In next week’s episodes, Gabby suffers a dizzy spell and collapses, completely unaware that her behaviour with food “is becoming obsessive”.

“She has a dizzy spell, and Manpreet talks to her about health and potential pregnancy, but overall, it’s just seen as a ‘pat on the back’ for living healthily,” Bentham explained. “It reinforces Gabby’s mindset that she is doing the best thing for herself. While eating healthy is a positive thing, for Gabby, this is developing into a complete, pathological fixation.”

And it won’t be an easy journey for Gabby, with Bentham admitting: “I think the future is more bleak than bright with this behaviour. While she has found stability in her business, the dark tunnel she is going down is extreme. She is making food the ‘villain’ – for example, not wanting Thomas at a party because of the menu. It is consuming her whole brain.”

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Speaking in the latest edition of Inside Soap, producer Laura Shaw confirmed that when Ross Barton (Michael Parr) rejects Gabby after a harmless flirtation, her self-esteem hits an all-time low, which warps into an obsession with healthy eating.

“It’s going to be a big story for Gabby, where we delve into the dark side of obsessive healthy eating,” she told the magazine. “She lost Vinny and then being pushed away by Ross makes her start to become a little bit more obsessive about controlling what she eats.”

Shaw added that things are “quickly going to go wrong”, with Bentham explaining that her character’s decisions come from a desire for control.

“I feel like Gabby’s always had that desire to prove herself,” she explained. “She’s a 24-year-old girl and so social media plays into that. Getting rejected on top of that means that everything spirals.

“She’s looking for something else to put a focus on. What can be seen as quite a healthy thing – investing in your health – at what point does that become an obsession and unhealthy?”

Emmerdale airs weeknights at 8pm on ITV1 and from 7am on ITVX.

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