After a roller coaster couple of years, Stephanie Davis tells Closer how boyfriend Owen is an amazing father figure to her son Caben and has helped turn her life around
She started out as a musical theatre hopeful, before winning her breakthrough role as feisty Sinead O’Connor in Hollyoaks. But in recent years, Stephanie Davis has been more widely known for her disastrous relationship with ex Jeremy McConnell.
After meeting him on Celebrity Big Brother in 2016, Steph, 26, found herself embroiled in a toxic romance with the Irish model, culminating in a domestic abuse trial, a restraining order and a suicide attempt from the actress.
Jeremy even took a paternity testlive on TV when their son Caben was born in 2017, after he reportedly claimed he wasn’t sure the child was really his and wanted reassurance.
But two years on, striding across the Virgin Media TV BAFTAs red carpet last week, Steph looked worlds away from her former self. She’s started a new life with boyfriend and Hollyoaks co-star Owen Warner, who she started dating in October. Steph says he’s the man she’s always been looking for, and the perfect father figure to Caben, now two.
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.
The star says, “I used to ask people, ‘How do you know if they’re The One?’, and they’d say, ‘You just know’. I can’t imagine my life without him. He’s so good to me, and he loves the bones of me. He’s shown me what a real relationship is like.”
Steph even says the pair have discussed marriage, adding, “He’s the one I’m going to marry, so hopefully it’ll happen next year. That’s what he tells me. He always bends down and does his shoe laces on purpose, to wind me up, so I’m like, ‘Oh, my God!’”
Steph’s life has done a U-turn in recent years. After finding fame as a teenager on BBC’s Over The Rainbow, Steph joined the cast of Hollyoaks in 2010, but was sacked in 2015, reportedly after turning up to the set drunk.
The following January, she appeared on Celebrity Big Brother and began a reality show romance with fellow contestant Jeremy, 29, despite the fact she was still dating model Sam Reece. From there, her life began a downward spiral.
The on-off couple hit the headlines for the following two years. In December 2017, Steph was granted a restraining order against Jeremy, and he was sentenced to 20 weeks in prison for assaulting her.
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Steph later revealed she’d turned to drink during her toxic relationship with Jeremy – who is now reportedly dating his lawyer, and launched a legal bid for joint custody over Caben last year. Steph had even attempted to take her own life.
Speaking of her rehab stint in 2017, she later said, “I knew that if I didn’t take drastic measures to turn my life around, I would end up dead.”
Now Steph is in a great place personally, raising little Caben with Owen by her side. She’s also found her feet professionally, having just been nominated for best actress at the British Soap Awards, after returning to Hollyoaks last autumn.
Speaking of how far she’s come, Steph says, “I’m so grateful to be where I am now. I’m enjoying every day, and taking each day as it comes. Being shortlisted [for the 2019 British Soap Awards] was amazing.”
But while she loves being on Hollyoaks, Steph says her favourite job is being mum to Caben – although she admits looking after the toddler leaves her and Owen exhausted.
She says, “Caben’s in his terrible twos, but we’re doing all right. There’s sleepless nights – can’t you tell from the bags under my eyes? I’ve got a lot of make-up covering it! Being a mum is amazing – hard work, but Caben brings me so much joy."
Read even more celebrity stories in this week's Closer magazine - out now.