Sarah Jayne Dunn says Hollyoaks axe was ‘the best thing that happened’ to her
Exclusive: Ahead of the release of her OFTV series Race of Wits, former Hollyoaks star Sarah Jayne Dunn told Mirror about why being axed from the soap over her OnlyFans page was the 'best thing' for her
Almost five years after her controversial sacking from Hollyoaks for refusing to delete her raunchy OnlyFans page, Sarah Jayne Dunn is more certain than ever that she made the right choice.
Sarah Jayne, who played soap favourite Mandy Richardson on-and-off for over 15 years, was fired in November 2021 when Channel 4 bosses said it had a responsibility to protect young viewers. But the actress-turned-model has zero regrets, saying her career has boomed since leaving.
“I feel like it was the best thing that could have happened to me,” Sarah Jayne, 44, tells us. “I think I’ve been a positive trailblazer to stand my ground and be a woman running my own business, while showing how mums over 40 can still be sexy. Why the hell not?”
The star claims the row was confusing because she thought the producers had consented to her launching the page. “It was a bit of a shock because they’d given me the green light,” she says. “Then a week into my OnlyFans being live and being really successful, we had meetings and they weren’t happy about it. They wanted me to take my page down.
“For the first time in my life, I stood my ground. I was like, ‘Actually, no.’ This is content that I’ve been doing my entire career – most of it with this show.”
Sarah Jayne believes there were double standards at play, as she regularly did glamour modelling during her time on the soap. “There was hypocrisy around me doing lads’ mags and calendars and being sexualised from when I was young, to then choosing to take control of my own images and essentially do the same thing,” she says.
“There’s double standards all over with this stuff, isn’t there?” she adds. “I feel like in the UK, we’re real prudes when it comes to women owning their autonomy and their sexuality and being comfortable and confident in our bodies. Mirror that with men walking around topless when the sun’s out. If women walk around with their tits out then they would be like, ‘Oh my God!'”
When asked about actresses whose topless scenes become huge topics of conversation, such as Florence Pugh in Oppenheimer, she says: “Someone like Florence Pugh is amazing. Women standing in their power and going ‘Well, it felt right for the character’ or ‘I was comfortable and confident and if you’re not then that’s on you, that’s not on me’ is amazing.”
While she wishes she had left Hollyoaks in better circumstances, Sarah Jayne says she has moved on. “It would have been nice for Mandy to have been given a proper exit and for fans to have seen her leave properly. But I’m a big believer that everything happens for a reason.”
Despite not gaining everyone’s approval, Sarah Jayne insists that the OnlyFans environment is far friendlier than other platforms. “On social media, you’ll always get people who want to troll you. People can sit behind a computer and send nasty messages, and on Instagram, someone can message you, and when you block and delete them they set up another profile. I’ve never had that with OnlyFans. People want to support you, and you build up a nice community. It’s a safe space and you have full control over your images. It’s empowering.”
Sarah Jayne, who shares 10-year-old son Stanley with her personal trainer husband Jon Smith, says he backs her 100%. “My husband’s always been super-supportive and my parents are amazing,” she says. “They live just round the corner from me and they’ll babysit on tap, which is great.”
While she’s happy with how things have turned out, Sarah Jayne is now keen to dip a toe back into acting. “I’ve just got a bit of a niggle to do it again,” she says. “I left Hollyoaks not by choice, and it would be nice to see what’s out there. I’m in my 40s and the last time I auditioned I was in my 20s, so it would be nice to explore different characters. God rest Mandy’s soul – she’s dead and buried so I can go, ‘let’s see whose shoes I can step into.’ And I don’t have to do random commercials on cruise ships in Austria anymore.”
Another soap role could prove very tempting – especially if it was Coronation Street. “It’d be fun to play someone I’ve never done before. Maybe a villain… or a murderer!”
Hollyoaks legends James Sutton and Sarah Jayne Dunn are reuniting on screen for a new eight-part competition show, Race of Wits, launching on OFTV on 25th August.
