Coronation Street star Sue Cleaver has said she is leaving the ITV soap to step outside her “comfort zone” and “do something new”.
The 61-year-old, who plays Eileen Grimshaw, announced she was leaving the show after 25 years earlier this month, with her character’s half-sister Julie Carp, played by Katy Cavanagh, returning as part of her exit storyline in February.
Opening up about her departure, she told the panel on ITV’s Loose Women: “I’m now 61 and I feel I’m now at a stage in my life, like most mums we have responsibilities, we have other things we have to consider [and] we’re bringing up our families.
“And I’ve got to the stage, my son is grown up now, he’s 29, I have no responsibilities left and I want to do something new.
“I want this decade to be about me. I really want to empower other women. Society at this point wants us all to shuffle off, don’t they. Just go away quietly, ‘you’ve had your days’.
“No, this is my decade. I’m more excited about this decade, hopefully you know, as long as I remain well, that this is going to be the most exciting decade for me. I’m really excited.
“There have been moments of fear about stepping outside your comfort zone, but I strongly believe that only good things happen, nothing good happens if you don’t step out of your comfort zone.”
The Barnet-born actor said her son was “very, very young” when she first started on the show, and added that she had begun filming her final scenes as Eileen.
She added: “It’s going to be emotional, it’s going to be hard. I’ve got a lot of friends there that I will still have a connection to it [the show].
“You know, my husband is the lighting guy on it so I don’t feel I’m going too far away from it but, it will be very emotional. I just know in my gut that it is the right thing to do and I’m going with that.”
The full interview featured on Loose Women, which airs weekdays from 12.30pm on ITV, ITVX, STV and STV Player.
