CORONATION Street star Sue Cleaver has revealed the secret behind her incredible weight loss.
The ITV soap actress opened up about giving up booze after drinking “lots of red wine” during the pandemic.
Sue has undergone an incredible transformation
She slimmed down after quitting alcohol for good
Sue, 59, is best known for playing Eileen Grimshaw, who spends much of her time at the bar of the Rovers Return.
But in real life, the star revealed she no longer drinks at all and says that hanging out in pubs is her idea of “hell”.
Sue, who stunned fans with her recent weight loss, said she “stopped completely” as part of a massive diet change.
The actress said: “I went on HRT about a year and a half ago and realised I should have done that about five years ago.
“I was walking around in a bit of a fog and then I literally made some massive changes.
“In the pandemic we all over-did things. I spent a lot of it drinking lots of lovely red wine and I put on a lot of weight doing it.
“Then I did dry January and I thought: ‘I wonder what life would be like if I stopped completely?’”
Sue, who is married to TV lighting technician Brian Owen, admitted that she and her husband had very different views on drinking.
Speaking on the Kaye Adams How to be 60 podcast she explained: “Brian and I are different; we like very different things. Brian loves the pub culture; he loves going for a pint.
“It was my idea of hell when I drank and especially now that I don’t drink, but we’ve sorted that.
“He bobs out on the way home and has a couple of pints and we have dinner a bit later. He’s a real party animal and I’m not.”
The actress, who has played Coronation Street’s straight-talking Eileen for the past 23 years, took part in I’m a Celebrity…last year.
“But she revealed that despite her apparent confidence she struggles with shyness and hates walking into a room full of strangers.
She said: “I come across as very strident and in a lot of ways I’m very strong, but there’s quite a vulnerable side to me and I can get quite scared by things.
“I’m hugely shy. I still can’t stand walking into a room of people on my own.
“I can’t bear walking into a party. I feel awkward. When people come up to say hello there’s that second before, where I go: ‘oh, what do I say?’
“No-one would ever guess that from me, we hide those parts of us, don’t we?”
The actress said that beginning therapy 13 years ago and her impending 60th birthday had helped her become more confident.
She added: “My character has been a great thing to hide behind. Now I feel like I’ve found my voice and I’m comfortable with my voice and I think that’s an age thing.
“I’ve always been really private about my life and I purposely kept myself under the radar and coming up to 60, something shifted in me that made me think: ‘why am I doing this?’
“My focus changed in life – where I was, what I was doing, what was important to me. And it’s a big change.”
Sue who has a grown-up son Elliot and is a grandmother, added: “I want a few more adventures. It becomes your default to stay in this safe little world that you’ve created and not step outside it and rock the boat.
“It’s a different phase of my life. I’m not responsible for anybody anymore and I feel a lot more confident.”
Sue is best known for playing Eileen in the soap
