Watch heartbreaking moment Hollyoaks’ Steph Waring breaks down in tears as she says goodbye to crew after losing job

STEPHANIE Waring says an emotional goodbye to crew after learning her character Cindy Cunningham was among those being axed from Hollyoaks. 

Even the 46-year-old’s 28 years of service couldn’t save her as Cindy became the only original character to be included in a recent cull of 20 cast members. 

Now Steph has taken to Instagram to reflect on her emotional day saying goodbye to some crew members as she is just weeks away from leaving the soap for good.

She tearfully admits that she can't fake a smile anymore and broke down in tears and said: "Today I had to say goodbye to some crew members I have been working with for the last 16 years.

"And known for the last 28 years. And it just hit me like a thunderbolt. I'm really going to miss these people."

She continued how she has to be positive otherwise: "I'm just gonna go another way."

"For me it just important to keep showing up with a smile on my face, but I'm really going to miss everyone and it's really getting closer now till I have to say goodbye properly."

The actress added that she doesn't usually share negative feelings as she is rather positive, and she suggests people should be more honest on social media by posting their lows as well as their highs.

In an exclusive interview with The Sun, Steph said: “I was learning all week of the people who were going, and I remember crying at one of them, and I had this gut feeling that I would be too. 

“But another part of me was thinking ‘I’ve just signed a year-long contract, surely it won’t be me’. Everyone was telling me I would be fine as I’m an original character.

"In the meeting they read from a script and a tear fell from my eye because I could just feel it in the room. 

“They got to the end and said ‘And with that, we will be losing Cindy from the show’. I just kept saying ‘I don’t understand’. I was very distraught, I didn’t take it well - I was probably the most dramatic person they told. 

“I just kept telling them ‘I’m an original character’. I was clutching at anything - telling them ‘but I was the first person to give birth on the show!’ I could see the distress I was causing them because they were upset that I was so upset.”

The move came as part of a shock shake-up which will see Hollyoaks become ‘Britain’s first national digital-led soap’, moving from Channel 4 to YouTube and E4 and being cut from five episodes a week to three. 

But as worried fans fear for the future of Hollyoaks, Kieron Richardson and Jorgie Porter have addressed their concerns.

The stars - who play Ste Hay and Theresa McQueen - have defended show execs for the move.

Kieron, 38, exclusively told The Sun at the TV Baftas: "From January it was like the start of a new era and it’s really exciting, there’s so much coming up in the future but we can’t say anything."

"I think it must be hard as a show writer to think of two and a half hours of TV each week it’s like a full film, whereas now if you shorten that down a little bit you’re going to get the best of the best in terms of quality.

"It’ll be all killer and no filler now so whoever stays at the end because we can’t give anything away, whoever lasts, it’s going to be a really exciting time for them."

Jorgie added: "I say we’re still giving the same drama, effort and energy and stuff so I think we’re safe."

Hollyoaks will air a huge bonkers stunt to cut the 20 cast members as the show jumps forward by a year.

However, the cast are being kept in the dark about the action-packed plan.

Kieron said: "We don’t actually know what the thing will be yet for the last of the five episodes and then the new three version we don’t know what happens to get it to that edge."

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