Stephanie Davis has shared a touching tribute to herself as she celebrates being ‘alive’ and ‘sober’.
The 26-year-old is up for Best Actress award at the Soap Awards on Saturday night and took some time before the ceremony to reflect on the turbulent months that led up to playing Sinead O’Connor’s explosive storyline.
Alongside a string of unseen pictures – including one of her covered in bruises in hospital – Steph told her 915K Instagram followers that whatever the result, she is ‘winning’ – thanks to how far she’s come.
She wrote: ‘For where I am in life now, I’m winning. It’s all about my beautiful baby boy & if I’ve made him proud, then that’s all that matters!’
Having overcome ‘lies’ and ‘manipulation’ at the hands of her ex boyfriend Jeremy McConnell – who was found guilty of attacking Steph at her home in 2017 – the actress revealed she even tried to end her life and relied heavily on alcohol.
‘Drinking to block the trauma and PTSD,’ she went on. ‘Being lonely oh so lonely & drowning, no one listening, to finally trying to end my life…TO NOW… I fought through.
‘I’ve been knocked down massively but got back up & got back up & got back up again.’
Steph’s character, Sinead, was raped by her husband Laurie Shelby – played by Kyle Pryor – and the mum-of-one made no secret that she was channelling her own experience of being in a toxic relationship to bring her ‘heart and soul’ to the role.
‘I gave my story line I had my absolute ALL, my aim was to help people and it has!!!goal reached!! And I’m proud of my self for going over it all again. I still have bad days & need to remind my self of how far I’ve come, but that’s okay. Because I’m here, I’m alive, im sober & I’m helping others with my story.’
Having now moved on with new boyfriend Owen Warner, Steph found it ‘hard’ to go back to the place she’d left behind.
‘I really struggled with parts of the storyline. But I have found it cathartic, too,’ she explained. ‘I had to tap back into the emotions I didn’t want to tap back into. I’d closed the book on that chapter, but to make this story believable, I just had to go back into it. I had to be strong.’
We think you’re amazing, Steph!
