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Ex-'Hollyoaks' star Sarah Jayne Dunn says cast were 'pitted against other girls' on calendar shoots

Sarah Jayne Dunn left <em>Hollyoaks</em> last year. (Getty Images)
Sarah Jayne Dunn left Hollyoaks last year. (Getty Images)

Former Hollyoaks star Sarah Jayne Dunn has said cast members were "pitted against other girls" when it came to shooting their racy calendars.

The actor played Mandy Richardson in the Channel 4 soap for years and was a lads' mag favourite, but left last year after clashing with bosses over her decision to go on adults-only platform OnlyFans.

Dunn, 40, has said it's been "cathartic" to take control of her own content on the site, and she's now told The Sun how it's taken away a competitive element too.

Watch: Axed Hollyoaks star Sarah Jayne Dunn compares old pic with OnlyFans shot

The star said the Hollyoaks cast used to get competitive over shooting their calendars.

"You would get pitted against other girls," she said. "It would be like, ‘You’re not on the cover this year’, or you would be feeling guilty because you were on the cover.

“It is not a nice thing."

'Hollyoaks' star Sarah Jayne Dunn said being on the soap got her into doing 'lads mags' shoots. (PA)
The star has said controlling her own content is 'cathartic'. (PA)

The star said platforms like OnlyFans take that away.

“I have my subscribers and I’m not fighting against someone else, saying, ‘Don’t go to her, come over to me’," she said.

Dunn previously said her decision to join the platform was "about taking back control, about empowerment and confidence and having full power over my choices".

She wrote on Instagram: "I’ve done men’s mag upon men’s mag and calendar upon calendar, I’ve enjoyed every shoot but never felt like I had much say in them.

"I’ve been pitted against other girls and felt deflated if not chosen for a shoot or for a cover, I’ve been airbrushed, retouched and ‘enhanced’ without consent and without necessity and I’ve not always been given photo or copy (the wording of an interview) approval, leaving both my image and words distorted.

"The older I get the more cathartic it is to take back control, to put healthy boundaries in place and to know my worth and my value."

Read more: Sarah Jayne Dunn says she 'had to take a stand' as she exits Hollyoaks over OnlyFans

Dunn was cast as Hollyoaks’ Mandy in 1996 and played the character on and off in several stints on the soap until last year.

Yahoo has contacted Channel 4 for comment.

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