CBeebies presenter 'couldn't afford to turn heating on' after being sacked over topless photo
"I was completely devastated that the career I loved was over."
Sarah-Jane Honeywell's kids TV career came to an unexpected halt in 2011 after she took part in a topless photoshoot.
Known for fronting programmes such as Tikkabilla, ZingZillas and Mighty Mites, everything changed after she teamed up with animal rights charity PETA to raise some cash against the unethical treatment of the world's many creatures.
The 51-year-old was also snapped dripping in Diet Coke whilst wearing a skimpy vest.
"The BBC was asked to comment on the pictures, and they simply said I no longer worked for them," she revealed (per The Sun).
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"That was how I found out. There was never a phone call or a single conversation with my bosses – despite me having worked there for 10 years. I was completely devastated that the career I loved was over."
Unsurprisingly, this out-of-the-blue sacking resulted in severe financial strain - exacerbated by the rising cost of living.
"A few years ago I didn't put my heating on at all over the winter because it had gone up so much - I just could not afford to put my heating on," Honeywell went on to share.
For the photoshoot itself, the star (who now hosts a Sunday afternoon show for BBC Radio Lincolnshire) laid down on a super-sized dinner plate populated by 'chips and peas' to promote vegetarianism.
"They said I could wear a bra and pants, so I got some flesh-coloured ones, and I was asked to lie down on a giant plate of food," the mum-of-two recalled.
"As I got in position, they asked me to take my bra off because it'd get loads more news coverage. I thought, 'OK, I'm helping a good cause' and I didn't really see what was wrong with it. They're just boobs and they were covered with my hands."
When the national press cottoned onto the pictures and recycled them, the keys to the TV industry were taken away from Honeywell.
"I couldn't get any auditions because people didn't take me seriously and just passed me off as a children's TV weirdo. Financially it was an absolute disaster."
She and husband Ayden Callaghan, who played Joe Roscoe in Hollyoaks, were forced to move into her parents' garage.
"We lost everything," she recounted.
"We were forced to live in the garage of my parents' home for three years. As well as losing my job at CBeebies, I had also been through a breakup and it left my financial situation in ruins.
"Ayden and I both worked really hard all our lives, and then we suddenly found ourselves living in this tiny space with two children."
Much like John Cleese, Honeywell made sure to have a dig at cancel culture too, in that 'people forget that human beings are behind those celebrity personas - people can make mistakes'.
Topics: Animals, CBBC, Celebrity, TV and Film, BBC
Dan Seddon