Sarah Jayne Dunn says she 'had to take a stand' as she exits 'Hollyoaks' over OnlyFans
Sarah Jayne Dunn has said she’s "disappointed" to be leaving Hollyoaks over her decision to join OnlyFans – but that she "had to take a stand".
The actor – who is best known for playing Mandy Richardson in the Channel 4 soap – joined the adults-only platform last month, saying it was “about empowerment and confidence and having full power over my choices”.
However, Hollyoaks said cast members are not allowed “to be active on certain 18+ websites” and confirmed Dunn was leaving the show.
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Dunn told The Sun: “I’m disappointed it has come to this, after so many years. I’ve loved being on Hollyoaks and I will miss the amazing cast and crew very much. But I feel like I had to take a stand."
She continued: “For me this is about having the right as a woman of 40 years old to decide what is right for me.
“I love photoshoots and I’ve worked hard for my figure. I don’t make a secret of the fact that I get a big boost out of it, and I’m not apologetic for that.”
Dunn said the images that she shares on OnlyFans are “no more explicit” than the photoshoots she has done for magazines and the Hollyoaks calendar.
She also said the site is not all adult content.
“There’s lots of other stuff on there, including food, health, fitness - and I decided to go for it,” she said.
“The idea that it’s just pornography is a total misconception, it’s not the case at all.”
Dunn was cast as Hollyoaks’ Mandy in 1996 and has played the character on and off in several stints on the soap since then.
Confirming her exit, a spokesperson for the show told Yahoo: “Hollyoaks is a youth-facing drama with many young viewers, who follow our cast very closely, both in the soap and outside of it.
“We take our responsibility to our young audience very seriously and therefore the show does not allow any Hollyoaks cast members to be active on certain 18+ websites.
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“We had hoped we could reach a resolution with Sarah that would allow her to remain in her role as Mandy, but we respect her choice to continue to produce content on OnlyFans.
“In the past four years since her return to the show her legacy character has been an integral part of some our most important storylines and we will be very sad to see her go.”
Additional reporting from PA.
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