Emma Watkins on her journey as the ‘Yellow Wiggle’, diagnosis with stage 4 endometriosis, and passion for sign language and raising awareness for Australia’s deaf community

Being able to incorporate her own personality into her role is something Emma Watkins, best known as the ‘Yellow Wiggle’, finds particularly helpful when navigating her personal life in the public eye. With her down-to-earth attitude, enthusiasm for performance, and love of children and animals, it’s not hard to see why Emma is adored by fans both young and old.

 

When a diagnosis of stage 4 endometriosis took Emma abruptly off the stage and into surgery in 2018, Emma made the decision to talk openly about her journey with the disease in the hopes of raising awareness and starting conversations that would impact women’s health in a positive way. Emma manages to use both her social media platforms and her Wiggles platform to build on inclusiveness, and has been incorporating sign language into performances for years to create content that is accessible for deaf and hearing-impaired children.

 

In this episode of Outside the Lanes with Sophie Pascoe, Emma discusses her life-long passion as a performer, how she maintains health and wellness with a demanding schedule, and why she can’t wait to be back on New Zealand soil.