Inside Coronation Street original actress Summer Spellman’s life – from ITV soap exit to glam transformation

FORMER Coronation Street star Matilda Freeman was last seen playing Summer Spellman on the Cobbles three years ago.

The actress, 17, played the student on the ITV soap for a total of 147 episodes between 2017 and 2020.

Matilda, who joined the show at 12-years-old, was featured in several gripping storylines while on the soap, including Todd Grimshaw’s initial exit and Billy Mayhew’s drug addiction.

Matilda explained that she left the ITV soap so she could “work on other shows/films/projects”.

She said in another Instagram Story: “When you work at Corrie you’re under a contract which means you can’t work on anything else while you’re there – so it was quite limiting.”

Two months later the soap announced that they had recast Matilda’s role and her former alter-ego would now be played by new actress Harriet Bibby.

Since leaving Weatherfield Matilda has appeared in a number of other shows.

Last year she played teenage Lin in BBC’s Almas Not Normal.

She’s also due to star as Leila in Amazon Prime Video series The Power.

Matilda also looks worlds apart from the young girl we first saw on the Cobbles as she has grown up into a young woman.

The actress boasts an incredible 46.8k followers on Instagram and loves sharing what she gets up to on her profile.

Last year the star bravely came out as bisexual during a Q&A on social media.

One fan asked about her sexuality, to which she replied: “I’m bisexual,” alongside a love heart emoji.

After sharing the post, Matilda was inundated with messages of support from her followers praising her for being so open.

The soap star said the outpouring support “means the world” to her in a follow-up post.

Matilda said: “Can I just say – thank you for all the love and support I’ve received after making my sexuality aware on my socials.

“I really wasn’t expecting it and it means the absolute world, you guys are amazing. I love you all.”