Coronation Street icon Sue Cleaver – who has played Eileen Grimshaw on the soap for 25 years – has revealed that she’s leaving the cobbles to start anew after facing anxiety

Sue Cleaver has opened up about the reason behind her exit from Coronation Street after 25 years of playing Eileen Grimshaw on the soap, sharing that she’s struggled with self-criticism over the years.

In January,, Sue announced that she was leaving the ITV soap after 25 years of playing Eileen to make a change in her life. In a statement, she revealed that the door “is still firmly open” to return to the soap but that she’s ready for “new adventures”

Appearing on This Morning today, Sue spoke about her exit after being asked why she was leaving by hosts Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley.

“I’m leaving now – I’m 61 and this is what my new book is all about. I think we get to an age where society wants us just to shuffle off quietly and I really want to encourage other women that we have so much more to give,” she said.

Coronation Street’s Sue Cleaver spoke about her exit on This Morning ( 
Image:
ITV)

“We have experience, we make great mentors, we make great resolution makers, we’re great teachers – we have so much life experience. I think a lot of women lose their confidence and their belief in themselves. I think we spend too much time looking after other people and we haven’t spent enough time prioritising ourselves.”

Sue added that she has struggled with “negative” thoughts throughout her life. “I hope to help people realise that you don’t have to listen to those thoughts, they’re just background noise,” she said.

She later said: “I was listening to my own self-criticism. I thought, ‘I’m not good enough, I’m an imposter, I’m going to get found out, I’m a horrible person.’ Then I realised that thoughts come and go. We take our thoughts as fact and they’re not.

“We get wrapped up with the thoughts, the problems, the what ifs. Anxiety, which is a bit one of mine, is always future based. It’s always about ‘could this happen?’ It’s our imaginings and as we know, that’s not real

Earlier in the interview, Sue revealed that she “nearly killed” her co-stars Simon Gregson and Craig Charles on Coronation Street during a scene that went horribly wrong.

“I remember in the early days when you slapped someone – you used to do it,” she said. “Now, you’ve got stunt people in and it’s all magic but we used to do it. I remember banging Steve McDonald and Craig [Charles]’s heads together and there was an almighty bang. Honestly, I nearly killed them. I got carried away