Donohoe admits 'cougar' tendencies

Amanda Donohoe loves dating younger men.

The 'Emmerdale' actress - who plays murderous self-made millionaire Natasha Wylde on the ITV1 soap – believes her artist boyfriend Russell Haswell keeps her young at heart because he is eight years her junior.

She said: "Having a younger man definitely keeps me young. But Russell doesn't feel too happy about being called a toy boy. Do I mind being called a cougar? Oh, I love it! Why not?"

The 47-year-old soap star – who has never been married nor had children – has no patience with youngsters and is still waiting to feel guilty about this.

She told Reveal magazine: "I have no regrets about not having children. I still wait for the pang of guilt, but I have none. I tune into the television show 'Nanny 911' occasionally which reminds me how much patience and love it take to be a good parent.

"I wholeheartedly admire people who choose to do it, I just wish I had that kind of patience, but I'm not sure I do. As I get older, it's less likely that I'll want to have any. I love kids, but I don't want to have my own."

Amanda – whose long-suffering 'Emmerdale' character murdered her husband Mark (Maxwell Caulfield) in the woods, after months of lies – is very different to her alter-ego and would have kicked her cheating lover him out of the house rather than kill him over his infidelity.

She said: "If I were Natasha, I wouldn't have killed him. I'd have kicked him out of the house about six months before and told him to never come back." stop them reuniting."