14 March 2024 , 17:32
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Hollyoaks star Sarah Jayne Dunn made shocking claims about being 'sexualised' and 'manhandled' when she was still on the soap.
The 42-year-old actor is best known for having played Mandy Richardson on the long-running soap for more than two decades before her departure in 2021. She was given an ultimatum by Hollyoaks bosses when they insisted that she shut down her profile on OnlyFans, saying that her racy shots were not good for publicity.
She refused to shut down her page, with the star recently revealing she thinks she knows which of her Hollyoaks co-stars made an official complaint about her account on the adult subscription-based website. Sarah's character first appeared on Hollyoaks in 1996 and left the show when Mandy suddenly jetted off to LA.
Sarah has been open about her OnlyFans career and what led to her departure from the soap. And now, she opened up about being 'sexualised' while working as an actress but 'not being allowed to do it on her own terms'.
Sarah left Hollyoaks a few years ago (Instagram)
She opened up about being 'sexualised' and 'manhandled' (INSTAGRAM)Discussing the hypocrisy, she told The Sun’s Fabulous Magazine: "I’d been sexualised and been made an object of sexual desire for my entire adult life. To then be told I couldn’t do it on my own terms? That was really the bit that stung because it just didn’t make sense to me.
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"I had spent years going on set, being put in short skirts and having a camera pan up and, you know, almost upskirt me and things like that. And then you’d have directors manhandling you and feeling uncomfortable… to be told that I couldn’t take control myself was the biggest kick in the teeth."
Mirror Online have contacted Channel 4 for comment. Since leaving the soap, the star has been thriving with her online career. At the time, Hollyoaks bosses said they take their responsibility to their young audience “very seriously”, and don’t allow cast members to be active on “certain 18+ websites”.
"I didn't leave acting, that was never my intention," Sarah has since insisted to OK Magazine. "The whole point of joining OnlyFans and moving over to that platform is because I was already shooting my content and putting it up on Instagram." She said it "made sense" to join the platform as "you've got the copyright and it's protected".
In 2022, the mum-of-one reflected on how she was forced to leave the long-running soap. “I’ve not stopped acting, I will still audition and look for other roles. It was never my intention to leave the show, but I’m in a much happier place now."