Coronation Street legend Sue Cleaver gives health update after quitting ITV soap – and reveals TV and Loose Women future
CORONATION Street legend Sue Cleaver has given fans a fresh health update after quitting the ITV soap after 25 years.
The actress, who played telly favourite Eileen Grimshaw since 2000, waved goodbye to the cobbles in an emotional exit episode earlier this month.
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Behind-the-scenes, Sue, 61, was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes over 20 years ago, and while she's known for her strength on screen, the star admitted at times she'd feel faint while filming.
But the star has now admitted that the use of Dexcom, a continuous glucose monitor, has helped give her back control of her life.
Speaking exclusively to The Sun, Sue said: "I think there is a lot of misunderstanding around diabetes, people tell you can't eat chocolate or sugar - but where I struggle with my diabetes is when I'm about to go on stage or when I'm about to go on Loose Women or live shows.
"Before I go on I'd have to prick my finger and check if they're stable enough to get me to the interval or do I need to eat.
Sue admitted there has been times that she's felt "faint" on screen.
"If I'm about to go on stage or live shows and I don't know if I'm going to make it if my sugars aren't stable enough, and I don't have time to prick my finger, you tend to think 'let me eat this thing now' and then you tend to feel the effects of it later or the middle of the show.
"But where the Dexcom, I just have to look at my phone and see my sugar levels, it takes all of the worry out of it."
TV FUTURE
After quitting the soap, Sue has now also revealed what her future TV career plans include and whether or not she'll join a rival soap.
She told us: "I'm chuffed with my Coronation Street legacy, they gave me a wonderful send off and the ending that I asked for and I wanted Eileen's exit to mirror what I feel I'm doing and what I want other women to do - to live fearlessly, don't let fear hold you back, be who you want to be.
"It's never too late to try something new, that's what I wanted for her, this realisation for her to go 'hang on a minute, I don't have to stay, I can do something completely different, all it takes is courage.
"I think people forget that you either have courage or you don't, courage is a muscle, start really small and put yourself our of your comfort zone for a couple of minutes a day, enquire about book club or evening class, because that muscle really does."
Sue said her final scenes "brought a tear to her eye" as she saw the taxis lined up down the street.
"There were moments when I had a little wave of emotion, we filmed the final scene on a Thursday and we went out for dinner and I came back on the Friday to do some other scenes and at the end of that it was really weird feeling. It felt right."
The TV star admitted she now has the "freedom" to explore other passion projects after spending over two decades at ITV.
She said: "It was the right time for me to go, the door is still open, my hearts there, my husband still works there, I still see them all.
"But for now, it's absolutely the right thing, it's time for me to have some freedom, to not be committed to things, to do passion projects, which is why I'm going back to the theatre.
"I love doing Loose Women, there are other things I want to do and there is a lot more of the world I want to see."
Although Sue has the freedom to join other soaps, she admitted her loyalties still lie with Corrie, saying: "I don't think so at this stage, I think I'm very committed to Corrie and Corrie has been very committed to me.
"I've been incredibly fortunate and it gave me the opportunity that not many actresses have, to be at home, to be there for my son in the morning and put him to bed at night and to have a proper home life, whereas normally you have to go where the work is.
"I've been extremely fortunate, it's not lost on me how lucky I've been, it has a big place in my heart."
Soap fans were devastated after it was announced that matriarch Eileen was set to leave the soap, just months after Helen Worth, who played Gail Platt, also said farewell.
She said: "Weirdly enough I remember quite a long time before it came out that Helen was going, she rang me and said 'I just wanted to ring and tell you I'm leaving', and I went 'Helen, I just want to tell you I'm leaving as well'."
A number of stars on the soap have been axed over the last few years amid budget cuts.
However, Sue, who starred on I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here in 2022, admitted she left the soap on her terms and had made the decision years ago.
"I made the decision to leave when I went and did the jungle, I'd known for a while, it had been a while in the planning," she said.
HEALTH UPDATE
Sue has opened up about wearing the Dexcom ONE+, a continuous glucose monitor that helps track her glucose levels to manage her Type 2 diabetes.
Sue said: "Dexcom has made a big difference in my life, having diabetes and having decision fatigue - it can be a mental marathon all the time.
"Diabetes is lifelong and the management is lifelong and you do get tired thinking about what you can eat and what impact it's going to have.
"What I love about Dexcom, it helps me see how my body is reacting to stress, food in real time. It stops me needing to guess but it tracks all the trends.
Dexcom is a small, fast and easy to use, helping to simplify diabetes management for those with Type 2.
Dexcom's new State of Type 2 Report - which looked at patients and doctors in the UK and other key European cities - discovered 72% of those living with Type 2 Diabetes believe that using a CGM device helps to improve their lives, a further 74% believe that it would also reduce the risk of complications.
EXIT STORYLINE
Sue said she told ITV bosses that she wanted her on-screen son Ryan Thomas to return as part of her exit storyline.
She said: "I asked for Ryan to come back, I rang him even before I rang Corrie to let him know I was leaving. I told him not to say anything and asked him to come back and he went 'I'd have to for my mother'. They asked me what plan of exit I'd like and I said I want Eileen to go off to Thailand to start her new life and Ryan to come back and take me."
The theatre star said she now has the freedom work on various other projects after dedicating over two decades to the soap.
"I won't miss being tied to people, I'm really enjoying my freedom and getting up in the morning and going to the gym and deciding what to do with my day," she continued.
"Everything I do now are passion projects like going back to the theatre.
"I've got so much going on at the minute."
Although Sue is no long on Corrie, she has her hands full with other TV jobs including being a panelist on Loose Women.
But the star firmly hit back at rumours that the panel is feuding.
Sue said: "I love it. I've known the girls for years, it's such a fun thing to do. It's that typical thing, Denise and I will disagree with something on the show, we're great mates, we've known each other for 26 years but then there are rumours that they've fallen out, we've not fallen out over anything.
"People don't say that when you see Match of the Day, can we not please move on.
"It is one big family and a huge amount of loyalty. We're very honest and brave and we put ourselves out there and in order to do that we have to feel very safe.
"We don't wear our heart on our sleeve and talk about things like that when you don't feel safe.
"There aren't clashes, we're making our programme and doing our job - it's just different opinions, we're not falling out with each other. I get on with everybody, I love them all. It's just really nice."
Last month it was announced that Loose Women will air for only 30 weeks of the year from January.
Speaking about her Loose Women future, Sue said: "Nobody knows what's happening in TV, I'm just getting on with what I'm doing in my life and I'm just enjoying it.
"I've had a great time on it, I've had a great ride, I don't know what will happen in the future - I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow or the next hour."
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