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Suranne Jones says she was “used” by soap bosses at the start of her career after stripping to her underwear for lad mag photoshoots.
The actor shot to fame playing factory worker Karen McDonald in Coronation Street between 2000 and 2004.
But in a new interview with the Give Me Strength podcast, the 41-year-old says although the photoshoots were “fun” at first, she quickly realised it wasn’t what she’d “signed up to”.
“The first few months was about me being whisked off and put in a bikini in Barbados,” she said.
“At this time I’d only been on one holiday abroad to Spain with my mates. I was like, ‘Wow’.
“Then I was on a celeb special for Stars In Their Eyes, then put in a magazine with a bra and knickers on. They’d give you a glass of champagne to get you a little loose.”
She added: “I remember thinking it was fun at first, but I realised it wasn’t what I signed up to.”
Suranne, who has gone on to star in Scott & Bailey and Gentleman Jack, admitted some of the photoshoots were “dodgy”.
“There’s one in a diner where I am squirting ketchup and mustard,” she said.
She added: “I don’t think Coronation Street was alone in that. I think all of the soaps used their girls in that way.”
Surannne left Corrie in 2004 and went on to win a Bafta for her portrayal of Dr Gemma Foster in the BBC’s hugely popular Doctor Foster.
Last year the star opened up about the anxiety that led to her collapsing backstage during a performance of her London play, Frozen, and led to her eventually pulling out of the run altogether.
“I’d been feeling edgy, nervous around people, not being able to converse properly,” she told The Guardian.
“Being in the theatre didn’t help. I don’t think theatre was the cause, but I think it heightened it. You’ve got a 1,000-seater full of people staring at you.”
She added: “You try and resist what’s happening, keep working… And in the end something gives. I think that’s what happened,” she added.