Helen Flanagan says Coronation Street ‘sexualised’ her when she was teenager

Former Coronation Street star Helen Flanagan has accused the show of “sexualising” her when she was 16.

The actor played Rosie Webster on the ITV soap from 2000 until 2012, and returned for a one-year stint in 2017, but has now said she was made to “parade around in her knickers like a mad nymphomaniac” during her original stint.

Flanagan, 35, has questioned whether it “was morally right” that she was expected to perform these scenes alongside an older man when she was “still just a teenager”.

The actor was referencing a storyline in which Rosie is groomed by serial killer teacher John Stape (Graeme Hawley). She was eventually kidnapped and held hostage by him. Flanagan was 16 and Hawley was 36 when the scenes aired in the mid-2000s.

“Alison King, who plays Carla Connor, once kicked off in the green room, saying how disgusting it was that they were sexualising me when I was a young girl,” Flanagan told The Mirror.

'I didn't fully comprehend what she was talking about at the time. I do now. I get it. I had to do kissing and bedroom scenes with a man a lot older than me.”

The Independent has contacted ITV for comment.

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Flanagan recently said she’d like to return to the cobbles, telling The Sun: “I'd love to go back to Coronation Street, but they just haven’t asked me and I live around the corner, but they just haven’t asked me.

The actor shares three children, Matilda, 10; Delilah, seven; and Charlie, four, with her ex-partner of 13 years, Bristol Rover footballer Scott Sinclair. The pair got engaged in 2018 but split in 2022 following which she had a breakdown.

In the Mirror interview, Flanagan said: “It was the worst time that I’ve ever struggled with my mental health.”

She said she started to “experience psychosis“ and believed she was “being watched, filmed, hunted, possibly even drugged”, adding: ”I was seeing things that weren’t there. It was really frightening.”

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Psychosis is characterised as a break from reality and is classed as a symptom as opposed to a specific illness. It affects about one in 100 people.

Shortly after her split from Sinclair, Flagan said she “fell in love” with boxer David Haye, who is in an open relationship with Sian Osbourne, after developing “an amazing connection”. But on Celebs Go Dating in 2024, she said she experienced guilt, telling the show’s experts: “I didn’t feel nice about it.”

If you are experiencing feelings of distress, or are struggling to cope, you can speak to the Samaritans, in confidence, on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@samaritans.org, or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch.

If you are based in the USA, and you or someone you know needs mental health assistance right now, call the National Suicide Prevention Helpline on 1-800-273-TALK (8255). This is a free, confidential crisis hotline that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

If you are in another country, you can go to www.befrienders.org to find a helpline near you.