Gemma Atkinson has looked back on her “wild” Hollyoaks days and said they were similar to an “18-30 holiday”.
The 37-year-old actress starred as Lisa Hunter for a special cameo appearance recently and revealed that filming is very different to how it was 20 years ago.
Gemma is now a mum-of-one and loved up with Strictly Come Dancing star Gorka Marquez.
Talking about her soap stint, she told Fabulous magazine: “It was wild back then. It was like an 18-30s holiday. Now everyone has grown up, really. Everyone’s phone screen shows a dog or a kid.”
Unlike the big-name actors in rival soaps such as Coronation Street and EastEnders, Gemma said the cast from the teen soap didn’t draw as much attention.
(Image: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
She added: “No one used to bother about us going and getting p***ed at the National Television Awards, whereas Corrie and those lot had to sit prim and proper because they were the proper soaps.
“There was no social media . . . no s****y comments.
“We used to say growing up in the public eye was like university but we got paid. That’s how it felt.”
Gemma shot to fame on the soap and then managed to carve out a great secondary career in glamour modelling off the back of it.
(Image: Channel 4)
Over her years, Gemma has done tonnes of racy shoots, magazine spreads and pin-up calendars.
Talking to Vicky Pattison’s podcast The Secret To, Gemma said: “When I was about 14 my mum’s friend had said in passing, ‘Your Gem should do some modelling’.
“I was like, ‘There is no chance’. I have never been into my hair and make-up — it didn’t appeal to me. So my mum said, ‘OK, forget it’.
“Then, about three weeks later, she said, ‘You have a dentist appointment. I’m picking you up from school early’.
(Image: glouiseatkinson/Instagram)
“We went past the dentist. I said, ‘Where are we going?’.
“She said, ‘We are going to the Manchester Model Agency’.”
She continued: “I was in my school uniform, sat there fuming, with a face on. They came out and they signed me.
“So we did these pictures. Literally a couple of weeks later they said, ‘Hollyoaks are auditioning. It is for a grumpy schoolgirl called Lisa and we remember the time you came in.’”
For more incredible stories from the Daily Star, make sure you sign up to one of our newsletters here .
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
