HELEN Flanagan has defended her reality TV and sexy modelling careers, insisting it has no bearing on her talent as an actress.
The multi-talented star, 35, made her name as a child actor on Coronation Street, playing Rosie Webster between 2000 and 2012, before reprising the role for a year in 2017.
Since her final stint on the soap seven years ago, Helen has appeared on I’m A Celebrity… South Africa and Celebs Go Dating.
She also had a boob job in January 2023 and has since launched a successful modelling career, sharing racy lingerie snaps on social media.
“I’m kind of like open-minded really. I’ve always enjoyed doing reality TV as well,” she exclusively told The Sun.
“The last reality show I did was like Celebs Go Dating. I loved that. I had literally the best summer. Like I really, really enjoyed it.
READ MORE ON HELEN FLANAGAN
“I think there’s this thing as well. I feel like if you can do reality TV or modelling doesn’t make you any less of an actress.
“It doesn’t affect your acting talent. I think sometimes it’s silly when there’s that thing that you think, ‘Oh, well, if you’re an actress, you don’t do this’. That’s ridiculous.”
Helen’s Celebs Go Dating stint was controversial as she secretly began seeing her ex-boyfriend Robbie Talbot, 45, while filming the show.
In a programme first, Robbie was then incorporated into the series and they attended sessions with the relationship experts together.
Their year-long romance came to an end in May after they realised “they wanted different things in life”.
The experience hasn’t put her off the show and she’s open to following in Sam Thompson‘s footsteps by giving it another go.
Speaking on behalf of WhichBingo, she smiled: “I could definitely do with some help I think with my dating life. I would definitely do Celebs Go Dating again. Without a boyfriend this time.”
However, the need for that depends how successful she was while filming Celebrity Ex On The Beach, details of which are tightly under wraps.
With the MTV show now wrapped, Helen is focused on relaunching her acting career.
“I really want to concentrate just on acting now,” she said. “I’d love to do something on Netflix.
“I’d love to do period drama. There’s so many things I’d really love to do, but you never know what’s going to happen.
“You can’t kind of like force things. You’ve kind of got to go with the flow.”
Helen is returning to her acting career this Christmas playing The Wicked Queen in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at Liverpool M&S Bank Arena later in the month.
She’ll then hit the stage in the new year in The Memory of Water at Bolton’s Octagon Theatre.
It’s a 30th anniversary revival of Shelagh Stephenson’s award-winning comedy about three sisters who reunite at their childhood home ahead of their mum’s funeral.
“I mean it’s the perfect part for me. The cast is amazing,” she said.
“I’m just so looking forward to it. So it’s a brilliant start because I’ve not had two very good Januarys so far. So it’s a really good start to the year.”
At the start of 2024, Helen withdrew from the role of Miss Scarlett in a Cluedo 2 theatre tour when she experienced problems with her mental health.
Diagnosed with bipolar and ADHD, it was an adverse reaction to medication for the latter that caused Helen to experience psychosis.
Turning that tough time into a positive, Helen began writing a book about her life and mental health and it will soon be published.
“My book comes out in the end of January, which was something that I’ve worked really hard on this year,” she said.
“I talk a lot about mental health in the book and I hope it is a comfort to someone that’s reading it, and I hope it makes them laugh. I wanted it to be funny as well and have humour in it, even though we’re talking about important subjects.
“It was kind of therapeutic for me, really. It’s been really empowering for me because that time was such a difficult time. And then to turn it into something positive, it’s been like a nice thing.”
