Michelle Keegan has hinted she was pressured into posing for lads mags the she didn’t want to do by Coronation Street bosses.
The 33-year-old actress played Tina McIntyre on the ITV soap for six years between 2008 and 2014 and was just 20-years-old when she landed the part.
Reflecting on her earlier career, Michelle has suggested she was pressured into taking part in sexy photoshoots for men’s magazines that she didn’t “necessarily want to do.”
The actress says she felt shy in front of the cameras and only took part in the shoots as she assumed it was part of her job.
She told Cosmopolitan magazine: “It wasn't something that I necessarily really wanted to do. I remember feeling very shy because I was really young.
“But I thought it came as part of being on TV.
“Now that I'm older, I realise that it is OK to say no to something that you don't feel 100 per cent happy with. You don't have to do it because you think you have to do it.”
Michelle continued: “But I will say, this is no reflection on Coronation Street. I had a brilliant network and team and the PR team were fabulous and really looked after me and it was a different time back then.”
She hinted the soap had a culture of exploiting young actresses for lads mags shoots, adding: “Everyone did it at that time.”
Michelle’s confession comes just weeks after fellow Corrie star Suranne Jones slammed the soap for pressuring her into lads mags shoots of her own.
The 41-year-old actress was 21-years-old when she joined the show as Karen McDonald back in 200.
She told the Give Me Strength podcast: “The first few months was about me being whisked off and put in a bikini in Barbados...
"At this time I’d only been on one holiday abroad to Spain with my mates. I was like, ‘Wow’.
“Then I was on a celeb special for Stars In Their Eyes, then put in a magazine with a bra and knickers on. They'd give you a glass of champagne to get you a little loose."
She damningly added: “I remember thinking it was fun at first but I realised it wasn't what I signed up to.”
