A Coronation Street actress has startled viewers by revealing her real age.
Harriet Bibby, who plays 16-year-old Summer Spellman in the soap, appeared on ITV's Lorraine this morning to speak about her character's recent type 1 diabetes diagnosis.
Harriet took over the role as Summer last year from Matilda Freeman, who played Billy's adopted daughter from 2017 until 2020.
Read more: Charley Webb's son floors fans with his 'superstar' singing voice
After opening up about her recent storyline, Lorraine asked the star: "What age are you in real true life?"
"I am 23," she replied.
A shocked Lorraine responded: "You look younger, and that's great! She's what, 16? But I think because of the storylines she's going through, you need to have that sort of maturity in a way to deal with that, because in her young life she's gone through a lot!"
"She has!" Harriet agreed. "She's actually quite a sensible girl and she's quite mature with the way she's been raised by Billy. She's probably more sensible than I am! So I don't find it too much of a stretch to play her."
But fans were stunned to discover that she was 23, with some even believing that she was younger than her character.
What do you think? Let us know in the comments below
Writing on social media, one tweeted: "23??? I was thinking 13 #lorraine."
While another commented: "23! I'm still like #lorraine."
This week on the soap, Summer took Billy and Todd out for Father's Day lunch at the Bistro but ended up making an excuse to return back home to do revision.
Billy was worried about Summer and when they got back to the flat and discovered that Summer had collapsed after a dizzy spell.
After taking her to the hospital, Summer was left devastated when she was diagnosed with type one diabetes.
Opening up to the Mirror and other news outlets, Harriet said: "A lot of people have heard of diabetes but I actually I don’t think a lot of people know what it actually is and what actually happens to your body, because I know I didn’t when we started discussing this storyline.
"I go, ‘alright she gets diabetes but what actually is it?' So when she’s diagnosed you have this huge hit of, ‘oh right I’ve got this lifelong condition that I’m gonna have to deal with, but I don’t even know what that is or what I have to do to control it’, so yeah I think she’s a bit scared.
"I think finding out you have a lifelong condition that you’re gonna have to deal with, you don’t wrap your head around it for a little while."
*Lorraine airs weekdays at 9am on ITV
