CORONATION Street legend Beverley Callard has revealed she is going under the knife to have a facelift to extend her career.
The actress – who quit her role of Liz McDonald in the ITV soap last year after 31 years – says she feels the need to have it done so she can keep acting despite the ageism and sexism in the industry.
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Speaking on the latest episode of best-selling author Melanie Blake’s YouTube series Girl Talk, Beverley said: “I’m not doing it for anyone else.
“I’m 63, I don’t actually want to be any younger but I don’t want my working life to finish because of the number of years I am rather than anything else.
“Also I’m never happy with me, that’s my demons, I hate mirrors, I don’t look at photographs of myself and it’s not false modesty, I just don’t like it.
“Even if we’re in the car and Jon’s driving and I pull the mirror down, I have to put it back up, I hate it. That’s just me, so I feel maybe my working life won’t come to an end because of the way I look.”
As well as Corrie, the actress starred in Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps and sell-out tours of the Thunder Girls and The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
But she fears her acting career could be over unless she goes under the knife – against the wishes of her husband and children.
She added: “I want to do it, I have to say Jon really doesn’t want me to have it done. We have five children between Jon and I, and I’ve only told one of them and that one said ‘no no no no no’.
“But I am going to do it and I am doing it for me.
“As I say, I don’t want to be younger, I will never lie about my age, I just hope it will make me look a bit better.”
She was asked if she was doing it because if she didn’t do it then she wouldn’t get those roles, Beverley replied: “Absolutely. And I hate bullying in any shape or form but sometimes I feel we are emotionally bullied into it.
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“Hopefully I don’t succumb to it but may I have succumbed to it by actually doing it. I don’t criticise other women for the way they look, I’ve worked in the fitness industry for over 35 years.
“I’d never advocate for being a stick insect or a couch potato, the whole idea of being fit and healthy is to feel healthy and feel good about yourself.
“It doesn’t matter what size or age you are but unfortunately the world doesn’t see it that way.”
Ruthless Women is available on Amazon.
