Suranne Jones rose to fame as Karen McDonald in Coronation Street. But now the actress has claimed she felt "used" by soap bosses in the early days of her career.
Suranne, 41, made the admission on Give Me Strength - a health and fitness podcast - and said one thing she didn't anticipate upon joining Coronation Street in 2000 was the string of "lad mag" photoshoots she'd be part of.
Opening up about the early days of Corrie, she said, "The first few months was about me being whisked off and put in a bikini in Barbados.
"At this time I’d only been on one holiday abroad to Spain with my mates. I was like, ‘Wow’."
And that wasn't the only time Suranne felt "used" for her appearance. She added, "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.
"I remember thinking it was fun at first, but I realised it wasn’t what I signed up to," she explained. "There are some dodgy photos out there. There’s one in a diner where I am squirting ketchup and mustard."
Suranne pointed out that Coronation Street was not the only soap guilty of "using" girls for photoshoots back in the day. "I don’t think Coronation Street was alone in that. I think all of the soaps used their girls in that way."
She left the soap in 2004 after four years on the cobbles and has since gone on to have a hugely successful career in the likes of Doctor Foster and Gentleman Jack.
Despite her busy schedule, Suranne recently insisted her career will never come before her family.
The actress revealed she regularly gets offered work but is wary about which jobs she accepts. "I’m being careful about what I swap my family life for," Suranne admitted.
Suranne has one child with husband Laurence Akers and is keen to spend as much time with them as possible.
"I still vet what I read and if there was anything too harrowing, I would have said it wasn’t for me," she confessed. "I’m in no rush to do anything about missing children. Television drama seems to be fascinated by them."
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