Former Hollyoaks star Stephanie Waring has opened up about her experience with an eating disorder and relationship with food.
The actress, who is 47, is best known for her role as Cindy Cunningham in the Channel 4 soap. She played this role on and off from 1995-2024.
Recently, Steph launched a YouTube channel called Breaking the Script. In a very honest and moving new video, the star sits down to talk about her eating disorder, and how she was warned by doctors that she may die as a result of the condition.
The star explains that her relationship with food began to change at just 10 years old. She says that she became addicted to the feeling she’d experience if someone asked her if she had lost weight.
Steph, who is mum to Mia and Lexi Grace, reveals that she would force herself to run up and down the stairs 100 times, and ensure she exercised three times a day. She also says that at one point, she weighed just four stone.
It was at the age of 15 that saw Steph get told ‘I may as well get run over by a bus because I was going to die any day’.
‘I was under four stone and I was scared. The doctor confirmed that I had anorexia and I did think finally a label. I thought you know, it was finally acknowledged that something was wrong with me.’
She adds: ‘I rapidly wasted away. I had no friends and I was a shadow of my former self. My personality was non-existent. This is what people don’t see when they glamourise thinness.’
You can watch Steph’s video where she opens up about her eating disorder here.
Steph was part of a mass cast exodus in Hollyoaks ahead of a huge revamp, which saw a reduction of episodes and a game-changing time jump.
Cindy and her little brother Tom (Ellis Hollins) made a quick escape from the village after learning the truth behind Dave Williams’ (Dominic Power) identity.
As the notorious gangster ‘Blue’, he plagued Warren Fox’s (Jamie Lomas) life for weeks over the summer, kidnapping his children and forcing him to confess to the murder of his mother.
Don't miss a Soaps scoop! Add us as a Preferred Source
As a loyal Metro Soaps reader, we want to make sure you never miss our articles when searching for stories. We have all the latest soaps news, spoilers, videos, and interviews, with a vibrant community of highly engaged readers.
Click here and tick Metro.co.uk to ensure you see stories from us first in Google Search.
After Dave pulled a gun on the siblings, Cindy whacked her husband over the head with a stapler before they both fled.
Desperate to depart before she found herself in more danger, she resolved to stay with older sister Jude in Spain – with Tom agreeing that it would be best for him to move on too.
In 2025, Steph told the Secure The Insecure podcast that she misses her friendships with her fellow ‘Oaks actors.
‘I did feel the quiet from the family that I once knew on the show,’ she admitted.
‘No one’s picking up the phone. No one’s checking in. Everyone’s just getting on with their life.’
She continued: ‘When you’re in that Hollyoaks bubble and they call it a family – I feel you’re only family when you’re in it.
‘You pour your heart out to these people, and then you go, and it’s like it never happened.
‘Where did that friendship go? There’s only a couple of people I’m in contact with.’