Coronation Street star Vicky Entwistle has opened up about her decision to quit the soap to 'find some peace' after struggling with fame.
The actress, who played Janice Battersby for 14 years, left the ITV soap a decade ago and has only now revealed the toll the job had on her.
"Corrie was only the third job I’d done and you go from being yourself to this loud, obnoxious woman that’s showing up in half the country’s living rooms," the 52-year-old told the Mirror.
"I wasn't prepared for the attention. It was like being dropped in the sea when you can’t really swim.
"By the time I left, I was desperate to find some peace."
Vicky added: "It was a brilliant job in so many ways but by the end, it was hard to know where Janice ended and I began.
"She was so feisty, it became physically exhausting to play her – hours on end shouting and screaming at people.
"I'd think at the end of filming, 'How the hell am I going to drive home after all that?' I'd have to go somewhere and calm myself down."
The actress said that she "almost felt like I was becoming Janice" and questioned her own personality compared to her character's.
"People presumed I was like her in real-life and I even started to worry myself," Vicky said. "I'd think, 'Am I this gobby? Am I this rude?' In the end, it wore me down. I was exhausted.
"I know it wasn't exactly life down the pits, but I was getting more and more anxious and I had to get my life back. In the end, I just knew I couldn't do it any more."
Vicky, who grew up in Accrington, left Corrie in 2010 and went on to appear in Holby City, Celebrity Big Brother and West End show Les Miserables.
She still lives in Lancashire with her set designer hubby Andy Chapman.
And fans who are hoping for Janice to return to the street, they may be dissapointed.
"I can't see it," Vicky said. "I was knackered before they even added an extra episode, so I don’t think I'd keep up.
"I'm happy with how things worked out.
"We might not fly off to Barbados every year but I have a home and a husband I love. That’s all anyone could ask for."
