Sue Cleaver , known for her tough, no-nonsense role as Eileen Grimshaw on Coronation Street , has revealed the painful truth behind her teenage years, which were marred by a secret pregnancy with a man twice her age. As Sue gears up for her return to Coronation Street after spending the summer performing in the West End, the actress has admitted that she was taken advantage of as a teen by older boyfriends, recalling running off with a sailor at 16 and living in a bedsit at 17. She then found herself pregnant after falling for a 35-year-old man Knowing she wouldn’t be able to cope with a baby, Sue booked herself in for an abortion, without telling anyone what she was going through.
She says as reported by The Mirror : “I was in absolute turmoil. I eventually told my Mum – I said: ‘This has happened, I’m going to the hospital on this date, can I have a lift and can we not tell Dad’. I don’t think we ever spoke about it again, but that was my choice.
"I don’t think we knew how to. My dad never knew. I look back and think I was so resilient.
I just got on and I dealt with stuff.” The actress faced heartbreak once more when her first marriage ended in divorce, but she now resides in Manchester with her second husband, lighting technician Brian Owen. She’s been sharing her story for the first time ahead of the release of her candid and at times heartbreaking new memoir A Work in Progress.
“There were boyfriends, one-night stands. I convinced myself that ‘Oh.