Home And Away Irene Roberts star's life – co-star husband, almost axed and health battle

Irene Roberts delivers good news in Home And Away this week, after she reveals the apartment above the diner is available for lease.

However, Cash’s lack of enthusiasm for Xander and Rose moving into the property makes Irene suspicious.

Will Rose’s feelings for Cash resurface? And will Irene sense the weird atmosphere between the two? Viewers will have to wait and see.

READ NEXT: Home and Away’s Sam Barrett’s life – dual nationality, failed auditions and beach babe

Since joining Home And Away in 1993, Irene Roberts has become a fan favourite on the soap – and a familiar face to all the characters in Summer Bay.

Away from the soap, actress Lynne McGregor has also led a very interesting life too.

Life away from Summer Bay

Lynne McGranger became a Home And Away icon after taking on the role of Irene Roberts in 1993 from original actress Jacquy Phillips.

However, her career began in stage productions including West Side Story and Bye Bye Birdy, before landing her debut TV role in an episode of Australian drama The Flying Doctors.

Although she is best known for appearing in Home And Away and it’s numerous spin-offs, Lynne has also more recently appeared in TV series including Equivocal Resolve.

That’s not all, as Lynne has also returned to her stage roots by regularly appearing in pantomimes in the UK.

However, Irene Roberts will always be Lynne’s first love, telling Now To Love: “I’m still on the show after 29 years, so people must either love Irene or they can’t stand her because we all love someone to hate on a TV show.

“A man at the airport once said to me, “Oh you play Irene? God, you’re a pain in the a** [laughs]! I take that to mean I’m doing my job.

“As long I’m one of those and people keep turning the TV back on, I’m content.”

Health battle

Lynne McGranger released her autobiography, Acting Up – Me, Myself and Irene in 2021, in which she revealed that she had suffered an eating disorder.

During an interview with The Daily Telegraph following the book’s release, she explained that in her early years on Home And Away, there was pressure on actresses to look a certain way.

However, she explained that this was no longer the case, saying: “Certainly, when I first started on the show, young girls would get pulled aside and told they were stacking on the weight a bit, and they better do something. Things are very different now.”

The star candidly opened up about her career highs and lows, as well as her personal life in the book, and talking to TV week, she said: “We all have trials and tribulations in life.

“These are my memoirs. I’m maybe sorry about certain things that happened but had they not happened, I wouldn’t be who I am or where I am today – I don’t want to live a life of regret.”

Almost axed from soap

In 2019, Lynne found out that her character might have been axed from the soap during an unexpected moment in an interview.

In her memoir, the actress wrote that she was talking to WSFM’s Jonesy and Amanda, and was shocked when Jonesy told her that she was almost written out of the soap in 2002.

Lynne said “I’m sorry, what?” before being told that news of her potential axing had been listed on her Wikipedia page – but that a producer called Coral Drouyn had fought to keep the character in the soap.

Family life

Although Irene Roberts has had a troubled love life in Summer Bay, actress Lynne McGranger has been in a relationship with her partner Paul McWaters for over 30 years.

The couple share a 31 year old daughter together called Clancy, but in 1996, Lynne encountered heartbreak when she suffered a miscarriage with her second child.

Lynne’s miscarriage also co-incided with her character Irene Roberts announcing that she was pregnant on the soap, calling the experience of working on the storyline a “traumatic and bumpy” time, but praised the cast and crew for supporting her on set.

In the years since, Lynne has also paid a sweet tribute to Paul and crediting him for being able to be part of Home And Away.

She told Women’s Day: “Aside from being a wonderful man, if it wasn’t for him I’d never have been able to do what I’ve done on Home And Away. He took over as a house husband and primary carer of Clancy.”

However despite being together for over 30 years, the couple have never got married, with Irene joking: “If we do get married it will probably be a barbecue in the backyard.”

In a sweet turn of events though, New To Love revealed in 2021 that Lynne’s daughter Clancy had recently become engaged.

Sweet Neighbours tribute

Home And Away and Neighbours are two of Australia’s biggest programmes of all time, with a global following that has captured viewer’s hearts throughout the decades.

However, many fans were recently devestated when Neighbours came to an end after 37 years – with stars from Home And Away also paying tribute to the soap too.

Lynne posted a sweet tribute to the Neighbours cast on her Twitter page, saying: “A huge shoutout to all the #Neighbours cast and crew. Past and present.

“Chookas for the future and thanks for the memories. I’m in the UK atm so will miss (or have missed) the finale, but will be sure to check it out when I return.

“Biggest love from a fellow #AussieSoap person.”

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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk