Tracie Bennett has returned to Coronation Street's famous cobbles for the first time in 22 years after being enticed by a dark and complex storyline.
But her excitement for her new role has been masked by trauma in her private life.
The 59-year-old has revealed the heartbreaking news that she's lost 12 friends to Covid-19.
In December, the actress had worried fans about her own well-being after she inadvertently uploaded a photo of herself in tears without caption or explanation.
She later said she was "OK" but tweeted: "There’s been never ending overwhelming bad news all around me for a while.
"Had to have an emotional cleanse today, to reset. Better out than in. Meanwhile, Thanks so very much for all your kindness."
And now the actress who plays Sharon Bentley on the popular ITV soap has commented on the tough times she has been facing.
Speaking to the Daily Express, she opened up on the pain caused by the losses of her friends.
"I’ve lost 12 friends now. Nobody trains you how to say goodbye to your mates on FaceTime," she said.
Tracie, who has regularly worked on Broadway over the years, has many friends in New York’s theatre community.
The American city was hugely affected by coronavirus early on in the pandemic.
And the actress has revealed how friends in the city had to phone her up to tell her she needed to say goodbye to someone.
"That was so traumatising," she admitted, saying how she had lost eight friends in four weeks.
She added: "In one way, technology is brilliant. But in another way, you don’t want to be saying goodbye to your mate and watching them die on FaceTime, do you? That was hard."
Now, the actress returns to Weatherfield in a bid to build bridges with long-lost foster mother Rita Fairclough, played by Barbara Knox.
However her more sinister reason soon becomes clear as she begins to help her drug lord nephew Harvey (Will Mellor) find where Leanne (Jane Danson) and Simon (Alex Bain) are being kept to try to stop them giving evidence against him in his trial.
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