Emma Watkins certainly hasn’t been resting on her laurels since leaving the Wiggles.
The children’s entertainer, who became the first ever female Wiggle in 2013, hung up her iconic yellow skivvy in 2021, passing the baton to Tsehay Hawkins.
And Emma, 35, who has conquered many creative mountains since leaving the legendary kids’ group, has now launched a new project with Audible.
The project – A Dream For Every Night – sees Emma narrate 40 short bedtime stories, written by Melbourne author Angela Casabene, that are designed to help kids make the transition from playtime to bedtime.
‘It’s pretty exciting,’ Emma told Daily Mail Australia.
‘I mean it’s lovely to be able to try new projects and so this project is quite special for me personally, but I’m very excited to share it with families across the country.’
‘When performing for children and when creating content for children, if it’s joyous and it’s adventurous that’s kind of a win-win for us.’
The audiobook is just one of many creative endeavours Emma has embarked upon since leaving the Wiggles.
Emma Watkins (pictured) certainly hasn’t been resting on her laurels since leaving the Wiggles . The children’s entertainer, who became the first ever female Wiggle in 2013, hung up her iconic yellow skivvy in 2021, passing the baton to Tsehay Hawkins
She debuted her own children’s entertainment character Emma Memma in 2022, winning an ARIA for Best Children’s album in 2023.
The character was designed to incorporate elements of song, dance and sign language, which is intrinsic to Emma’s recently completed PhD from Macquarie University, exploring artistic integrations of sign language and dance for children’s screen media.
Emma has also branched out of the children’s entertainment space to appear on the likes of The Masked Singer, The Amazing Race Australia, Lego Masters Australia and the ABC series Teenage Boss: Next Level.
Her turn on the 2023 season of The Amazing Race, competing alongside sister Hayley netted Emma an equal first place alongside former Voce host Darren McMullen and singer Alli Simpson’s teams.
She also tied the knot with husband Oliver Brian in 2022.
Emma, 35, who has conquered many creative mountains since leaving the legendary kids’ group, has launched a new project with Audible
And Emma told Daily Mail Australia she’s never had more creative flexibility since leaving the Wiggles, given the iconic outfit’s rigorous touring schedule.
‘Oh, I feel like it’s been such an interesting three years where I have a lot more flexibility that I’ve been able to do lots of different projects which I didn’t really get a chance to do before because we were really busy touring,’ she said.
‘I I kind of think back in the last three years I’m a little bit in shock sometimes when I think about what we’ve done.
‘It’s just been a dream. Honestly, the last three years has been really special.’
Emma added that her busy post-Wiggles schedule means she doesn’t get the time to catch up with her former bandmates – including ex-husband Lachlan Gillespie.
She also tied the knot with husband Oliver Brian (both pictured in May) in 2022 after splitting from first husband Lachlan Gillespie split in 2018 after two tears of marriage
Emma and Lachlan split in 2018 after two tears of marriage.
‘To be honest, I don’t really see them often,’ she said. ‘Mostly we get to catch up with each other at the Logies or the ARIAs.
‘It’s it’s one of those events that brings people together. I saw Lachie at the Logies and finally we’re like, “hey, how’s your Mum?”‘
‘It’s something that I look forward to the most about those kinds of events. It’s nice to have those moments to come together. ‘
And the schedule is not likely to slow down, either with Emma revealing that 2025 would see Emma Memma’s biggest year of touring yet, as she and her co-collaborator husband continue to incorporate her PhD work into the character’s stage show.
‘[Married life] is lovely, it’s wonderful,’ she said. ‘We work on Emma Memma daily and Ollie writes all the new music.
The project – A Dream For Every Night – sees Emma narrate 40 short bedtime stories, written by Melbourne author Angela Casabene
‘Ollie and I we’ve been so focused on working on these new processes and new pathways to writing music, that really caters for visual language to be included specifically, sign language.
‘I think we’ve worked so hard not just on the project Itself and on Emma Memma in our live show, but also the research and I think that’s kind of coming to fruition. And we’re just, we’re just receiving so much, beautiful feedback.’
Emma did however tease that she would like to reprise her presenting role on the 2024 ABC series Teenage Boss: Next Level – a reality show that follows teens who are viven control of their family’s finances.
‘I think what I loved most was I actually spent four months in Adelaide filming that series with different families around Adelaide who let us into their homes,’ she said.
‘Personally, I’d love to do it again but if they’ll do it again… we’ll have to ask the ABC.’
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