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Emma Watkins announces she’s leaving The Wiggles after 11 years
Yellow Wiggle Emma Watkins has announced that she will be saying goodbye to the popular children’s group at the end of this year.
The 32-year-old will hand over her famous yellow skivvy to a new Yellow Wiggle, Tsehay Hawkins, one of the four new cast members who recently joined the band.
Emma announced the sad news in a statement from the band on Tuesday morning, explaining that she wants to devote more time and energy to her other passions.
“After 11 years of performing with The Wiggles, and nine of those as the Yellow Wiggle, the time has come for me to pass the yellow skivvy on,” she began.
“Like many people around the world, the pandemic has given me time to reflect on what is important in life. For me, that means spending more time at home, something that I didn’t realise I was missing out on being away eight months of the year on tour, but something that I have really cherished over the last 18 months.”
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Emma went on to say that she is “eternally grateful” to The Wiggles for allowing her to be the first female in the band, and she has “an abundance of bowtiful memories” she will treasure for the rest of her life.
“I am also really looking forward to devoting more time and energy on completing my PhD that incorporates my ongoing passion for sign language, dance and film editing, and to having more time to work with the Deaf community,” she continued.
“As The Wiggles continue to evolve and someone new now steps into the yellow skivvy, I look forward to seeing children and families embrace them, just as I was when I began. I wish The Wiggles much continued success as they continue to delight children all over the world.”
The new Yellow Wiggle, Tsehay (pronounced se-hi, meaning ‘the sun’ in Amharic), recently joined the band as the second Red Wiggle for Fruit Salad TV.
The 15-year-old Latin dance champion said she is “honoured” to be joining the group that she grew up watching.
“Dancing has always been my passion, and I look forward to being able to share the joy of song and dance with children all over the world!” she said in the band’s statement.
Tsehay will be hitting the road with fellow band members Anthony, Lachy and Simon early next year for their brand new arena tour, Fruit Salad TV Big Show.
“I’m now incredibly excited to be joining them in the yellow skivvy and to have the chance to go out on the road in the new arena tour, I can’t wait to meet all the Wiggly fans,” she added.
Tickets are on sale from October 22 at www.thewiggles.com
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