Popular Coronation Street stalwart Sair Khan, who plays Alya Nazir, has had a lot of ups and downs off-screen, but is embracing her busy career and homelife as a family of three
Actress Sair Khan is best known for playing Alya Nazir on Coronation Street, who works at Pakistani street food restaurant Speed Daal, enjoys a wholesome family life away from the soap, including her first holiday as a family of three with her partner and baby boy in January, cosy nights cooking in her gorgeous designer kitchen and fun weekend breaks with pals.
The Leeds-born star waved goodbye to the soap she had starred on since 2014 last May, as viewers saw her character depart Weatherfield for a job opportunity in Dublin- before delighting fans last September by confirming her shock return, just months after welcoming her first child with partner, Nathan Chilton. Working through most of her pregnancy, the actress stopped filming just days before she welcomed her baby boy, last April.
Sharing her big news last May, Sair – who appeared on I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! in 2018, posted a series of adorable snaps to social media of the new parents cuddling their newborn, also giving fans an insight into her ‘rollercoaster’ 2-hour labour in a lengthy caption, including the words, “Okay, when I said ‘Spring awakening’ in my last post I didn’t mean ‘keep’ me awake. The new parent zombie look is definitely a thing isn’t it.”
Explaining her intense labour, she said, ‘How can I describe the labour experience… it was raw and primal and I’m glad I kept an open heart and no expectations because my gosh I had NO IDEA what a ride I was in for. And since then we’ve been non stop trying to figure out latches and vomit and tears all while dealing with sleep deprivation and the small issue of trying to heal my own body too.’
But aside from the whirlwind of becoming new parents in the last year, Sair has also endured the heartache of her partner’s health battles, previously revealing that her partner of five years Nathan had undergone chondroblastoma surgery – a procedure to remove a tumour – on his pelvis in 2022.
Leeds-born Sair has starred on the soap since 2014 (Image: ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
She said: ‘Last year was a challenging time for us both with Nathan’s chondroblastoma surgery on his pelvis. It’s been a long road to recovery and still has many obstacles ahead as we deal with the spread of the tumour to his lungs.
Life can be difficult and there’ll always be challenges to face but there are also important lessons to be learnt and gifts to be cherished…. It can be a really isolating experience. I’m so proud of him for being so open and vulnerable in the hope that others won’t feel so alone.’
Prior to dating Nathan, Sair was in a two-year romance with another well-known soap star – Emmerdale actor Simon Lennon, whoshe met at a charity event at Buckingham Palace. They former couple split from in 2019, after almost two years together, the relationship alleged to have hit ‘breaking point’ after the pair were forced to spent time apart while Saira trained for Channel 4 show, Sink or Swim.
