CBeebies presenter almost took her own life after being fired from show
A CBeebies presenter has opened up about how losing her job after posing in a controversial PETA campaign back in 2011.
Sarah-Jane Honeywell, who previously earned around £300 per episode after landing her first presenting job on the kid's show aged 29 in 2001, has bravely discussed her mental health and how she almost took her own life after being fired.
Over a decade ago now, Sarah-Jane, 50, posed topless, lying on a giant plate of food in London’s Trafalgar Square.
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Recalling the traumatic events that followed to The Sun, Sarah explained: "I felt like I’d let my husband down. I’d let my parents down. I’d let everybody down."
Not only was Sarah-Jane axed from Cbeebies, but she also recalls enduring an avalanche of online hate following the PETA campaign.
"There was a Facebook group set up called 'I Hate Sarah-Jane Honeywell'. That was a lot," she said.
"Other comments included 'attention seeker', 'desperate', 'waster', 'tacky', 'I reckon she’s absolute filth', 'loves herself this one', 'if she had brains she’d be dangerous'... it was annoying because I felt like they were unfair.
"I didn’t mind people thinking I was naive, but what really annoyed me was the suggestion that if you get your boobs out you’re automatically some sort of sex pest.
"You weren’t allowed to own your own body as a woman."
Following the shoot, Sarah-Jane said work 'completely dried up' leaving her struggling to pay off debts.
She revealed: "I couldn’t get any work at all and I was just surrounded by debt.
"It was all consuming. It felt like I was drowning in it. I lost my job and it felt like I’d lost my identity.
"I’d lost everything, including myself. I didn’t really know whether I could see a future."
Opening up about one of her 'darkest moments', she continued: "I walked to the train station in Liverpool and, I hadn’t thought I was going to kill or hurt myself, but it was like a compulsion.
"It was like, 'I need to jump'. And then I remember my little boy kicking and that shocked me out of it."
Sarah-Jane, who is a mum to six-year-old Indiana and eight-year-old Phoenix with ex-Hollyoaks actor husband Ayden Callaghan, 42, added: "I just felt like my life was over."
The former CBeebies presenter is now back on her feet and is happily working at BBC Radio Lincoln presenting the Sunday afternoon show, as well as running her own drama school Curious Theatre.
She said she has 'thrown everything' into giving her sons the 'best life', adding: "I always wanted people to like me and approve of me and my boys just made me go, 'Actually, the only thing that's important in life is now with your kids'."
The BBC declined to comment.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, please don’t suffer alone. Call Samaritans for free on their anonymous 24-hour phone line on 116 123.
Topics: BBC, Celebrity, TV And Film, Mental Health
Rhiannon Ingle