Hollyoaks Sarah Jayne Dunn struggles to switch off from dark and traumatic storylines but praises her husband for getting her through it
Her character Mandy was sexually abused as a child and suffered through the heartbreaking death of her baby daughter
HOLLYOAKS star Sarah Jayne Dunn has revealed she struggles to switch off from her dark and traumatic storylines on the soap.
The actress - who plays Mandy Richardson in the Channel 4 soap - has credited her husband Jon Smith for helping to keep her sane when she can 't switch off from her more traumatic storylines on the show.
Speaking exclusively to The Sun Online she said: "Sometimes you come home at the end of the day and you’ve been crying all day you can’t switch off."
Some of Sarah's more harrowing storylines have seen her character Mandy reveal she was sexually abused as a child, cope with her husband's rape, her daughter's death and her current unborn son being diagnosed with spina bifida.
But fortunately for Sarah she has an understanding husband, former actor and sports therapist Jonathan, who knows when she needs support.
She added: "I think Jon is understanding because he’s been an actor himself.
"So if I just need to come home and say, 'I did this today and then I did that' - I think it's just venting and then switching off at the end of the day.
"And obviously I have a lovely family at home so I can switch off to it and get into your home environment from work and that’s my way of coping with it.
"There's also making sure I make time to do nice things away from work and totally switch off.
"You can become consumed with it and spend a lot of your time reading scripts and learning lines for the next day so if you’ve got a long day you often don’t switch off.
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"It's because you’re straight in from work, you have your tea, and then it's 'Right I’ve got to look at my scenes for tomorrow and back into heavy stuff again'.
"But the show's good with us, we balance things nicely with nice story lines in between.
"You might have a few months of it being full on [misery], but you know that that’s not forever."
- Hollyoaks airs weeknights at 6.30pm on Channel 4 with a first look episode following at 7pm on E4
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