Stephanie Davis has opened up about filming “hard” scenes that hit a little too close to home
Mum of one Stephanie returned to Hollyoaks last year after she controversially dismissed in 2015 for reportedly turning up drunk to work.
And determined to do her character Sinead O’Connor justice, has been giving her all to a recent storyline, which she says bares painful similarities to her own life.
Fans have been gripped by Sinead’s abusive relationship with manipulating husband Laurie Shelby – as Stephanie recovers from her own toxic relationship with ex-boyfriend and father to her son, Jeremy McConnell.
“I was like ‘Are you lot writing my life story here?! I’ve just got happy and now you’re making me relive it all!’ It was hard,” she told new! magazine. "I really struggled with parts of the storyline. But I have found it cathartic, too.
“I had to tap back into the emotions I didn’t want to tap back into. I’d closed the book on that chapter, but to make this story believable, I just had to go back into it. I had to be strong. Hopefully people will see that when they watch it.”
CHECK OUT Hollyoaks spoilers: Nancy Osborne plots to set up Laurie Shelby – will it work?
Hollyoaks spoilers week 22 SLIDER
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In Hollyoaks next week Nancy Osborne publicly supports Laurie Shelby following Sinead O'Connor's revelation. She even asks him out for a drink.
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Jack Obsborne is furious with her when he spots them out together and is quick to confront her over her actions.
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Later on, Nancy meets up with Sienna Blake and it soon becomes clear that she's buttering up Laurie so she can take him down.
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When Jack tells Kyle Kelly about Laurie and Nancy together, he's quick to warn his girlfriend to stay away from the rapist.
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However she secretly plans to have lunch with Laurie. When Kyle spots her out with the teacher again she eventually tells him the truth – she's going to record a confession out of him.
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Meanwhile Diane Hutchinson asks Sami Maalik to represent Sinead in court. Ste Hay is furious when he discovers Sami is representing Sinead and is quick to confront him over his decision.
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Leah is shocked at her dad's actions and tells him he's changed – will she manage to get through to him?
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Ste is then left fuming when he discovers that Sally St.Claire has cancelled Leah's drama assessment for an assembly with Prevent. He's quick to blame Imran Maalik for the change in schedule.
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Ste and Stuart Sumner are quick to question Sally at the school and confront her over the drama assessment being replaced with the Prevent assembly. When Laurie enters the conversation, Ste goes from zero to 100 really quickly and ends up getting kicked out of the school.
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It's not long before the rest of the school begin to gossip about Ste raging at the teachers and poor Leah is left devastated. Following Ste's wild antics, Leela Lomax desperately wants to take Leah from Ste – will he left her?
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Tony Hutchinson, Leela and Peri Lomax are quick to confront Ste at The Tea House after spotting all the posters he put around the village. Jonny Baxter is quick to defend him and ends up kicking them out.
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Determined to not give in without a fight, Tony and Leela make it their mission to prove that Jonny and Stuart are breaking the law.
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At the end of the week, Jonny and Stuart find out that Tony knows about their involved in the far-right extremist group. They decide to tell Ste before Tony can get to him…
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Farrah Maalik takes Grace Blake out of the hospital however she refuses help from anyone when she has to get up the steps at The Hutch. It's not long before she ends up breaking down.
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Liam Donovan causes a stir and informs Grace that Farrah hasn't cancelled her flights to Canada. Later, Farrah is left devastated but her family manage to convince her to take her dream job.
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Mercedes McQueen returns from her holiday and is eager to help Grace out. When she asks Liam how she can be helpful he tries to taunt her with drugs, but she's having none of it.
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While Mercedes helps out with Bobby's PTA and make 100 cupcakes, Liam gets called in to the police station for questioning. Liam then tells Mercedes that instead of taking the fall they're going to frame Harry Thompson for the crash.
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Elsewhere Joel Dexter visits the hospital following his injured legs and awkwardly bumps into Cleo McQueen and her new boyfriend Mitchell.
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Despite the awkwardness, Cleo invites Joel to go to the cinema with them. While Cleo and her man worry about their cinema date, it soon become clear that all isn't lost because towards the end of the week Mitchell gets relationship advice from Joel.
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Juliet and Romeo Quinn are convinced that Harry is cheating on James Nightingale and their suspicions are raised when they spot him with Kyle and jump to conclusions…
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Baby DJ is back home but Darren Osborne has to work. Luckily Cindy Cunningham is there to help out.Darren wants to expands the delivery business and it's not long before he becomes the poster boy for the company.
After meeting in the Celebrity Big Brother house in 2016, Steph and Jeremy had one of the most explosive relationships in reality TV history, which was broadcast in extreme detail on social media.
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Stephanie continued, “I struggled with all of it. I found it challenging, mentally. It brought up so many things and it made my anxiety really bad at one point.
“It was scary acting it out. I’d forgotten what it was like, but now I see it so clearly, being in a different headspace. All the manipulation scenes brought it back.”
Stephanie now raises their one-year-old son Caben-Albi Davis alone.
“He kept me going and I’ll be honest with him about everything,” she told OK! Magazine last year.
“I’m proud of my journey and I’m glad that I’m an addict because the programme makes you a better person. I can say I’m a good person now."
Closer has contacted Jeremy's representative for comment.