Former 'Hollyoaks' star Sophie Porley quit acting after battling panic attacks.
Sophie Porley had to give up her acting career due to panic attacks
The 31-year-old star portrayed Ellie Nightingale in the Channel 4 soap opera from 2015 to 2018 but was forced to give up her career to put her mental health first – after putting "too much pressure" on herself to find other acting gigs and suffering a series of debilitating anxiety attacks.
She told 'The Muse' podcast: "I hadn't intended to transition to social media stuff when I came off Hollyoaks. My intention was to continue acting.
"I don't know if I've really spoken about this, but I'm not really acting anymore.
"Because I had a few auditions when I finished Hollyoaks, and I think I put so much pressure on myself to go from that to another acting job I felt real pressure.
"My agency sent me an audition and there was pages and pages of dialogue to learn. I went into my agency to record the audition, and I put so much pressure on myself I walked out of their building and had a panic attack."
She recounted: "I was in the train station, and I literally had to sit on the floor. I couldn't breathe.
"At that moment, I was like, 'I'm really putting too much pressure on myself to get another acting job,' so I took a step back."
Sophie hasn't completely ruled out a return to acting but admits it's too "overwhelming".
She added: "It's been a few years now, and I've not gone back to it.
"Sometimes I think I should try to pursue it again, but I found the whole thing really overwhelming."
Quizzed on whether she would reprise her role as Ellie, she insisted: "Never say never, but I don't have any plans to.
"It's not something on my radar."