Former Hollyoaks star Stephanie Waring has opened up about her life after leaving the show.
The actress played Cindy Cunningham in the Channel 4 soap intermittently for almost three decades between 1996 and 2024.
Steph was one of the many cast members who left the show as part of a cast cull. Following the announcement the soap would reduce how many episodes it airs each week, multiple cast and crew members had to leave.
Since her departure, Stephanie has ventured down a new path away from the acting industry, and has now become a life coach.
However, in a new post on her Instagram, she admitted that it’s hard to not immediately say she works as an actor, when someone asks what her job is.
‘I thought, good point, what work do I do? And the first thing that came to my head was I’m an actor. That’s all I’ve known for the last 30 years. When I lost my job last year, I knew that I would be in a place of vulnerability, because it wasn’t guaranteed that I was just going to get another role and you know, go onto the next project, it’s really hard out there, it’s not easy’, Stephanie said.
‘That’s one of the reasons why I stayed in Hollyoaks for so long because it was security and I was doing what I loved every single day. I didn’t even question it, so when I became vulnerable, I thought well what else can I do that would give me a purpose, and something that I was passionate about.
‘I’ve dealt with a lot of mental health in my life, and when I was decided to train as a life coach, I thought that this would help me in that respect. It did. I was my first client.’
Stephanie misses life at Hollyoaks
Steph went on to say that while she enjoys working as a life coach, it won’t ‘come close’ to her passion for acting.
She added: ‘There are things that I’ve learnt, and that’s why I’ve developed the handbook. I do have days where I’m sad and I miss it, and I’ve realised that is what I do. Anything else, I don’t think, will ever come close to my passion as being an actor.
‘When someone asks what is it that I do, I suppose I am many things, and I think that’s okay.’
How did Cindy Cunningham leave Hollyoaks?
In the soap, Cindy and her brother Tom (Ellis Hollins) made a quick escape after learning the truth behind Dave Williams’ (Dominic Power) identity.
As the notorious gangster ‘Blue’, he plagued Warren Fox’s (Jamie Lomas) life for weeks over the summer, kidnapping his children and forcing him to confess to the murder of his mother.
After Dave pulled a gun on the siblings, Cindy whacked her husband over the head with a stapler before they both fled.
Desperate to depart before she found herself in more danger, she resolved to stay with older sister Jude in Spain – with Tom agreeing that it would be best for him to move on too.
