Hollyoaks actress branded 'sexiest woman' looks unrecognisable 22 years later

A former Hollyoaks soap actress looks completely different over 20 years after she rocked up on the Chester-based programme and her life couldn't be further from her acting days

A soap favourite who appeared on Hollyoaks during the noughties looks unrecognisable over 21 years since appearing on the Channel 4 drama...

After joining Hollyoaks to play Debbie Dean in 2002, Jodi Albert, who is now 41, made three appearances in FHM's 100 Sexiest Women list at the height of her fame, before she stepped away from the limelight and married a member of Westlife.

Jodi starred in Casualty and in British film Popcorn, before tying the knot with boyband singer Kian Egan in 2009, with the former actress giving an insight into their lives on Instagram. Jodi and Kian have three children together and live near the coast in Ireland, a far cry from Jodi winning Sexiest Female at the British Soap Awards in 2005.

Jodi describes herself as a "London born/beach girl now. Raising three little wildlings with my love Kian Egan," in her Instagram bio, with her page having more than 147,000 followers.

With the former actress not stepping out in the spotlight as much now, she spoke about how she enjoys a quiet life in the Irish countryside when appearing on RTE Irish radio station in 2016: "As I got older and we had children I just really wanted to be part of a community.”

Jodi, who has also appeared as a member of the Irish girl band Wonderland, has also shared tragic news with her followers when, in 2022, she revealed that she had suffered a miscarriage.

It was her second miscarriage within four years and she revealed her "painful loss" after losing her baby at nine weeks. In the Instagram post, Jodie wrote: "I posted a similar pic to this on Valentine’s Day.. one person commented and said she looks pregnant... on any other occasion I might have been offended but on this occasion, I thought... ooh she guessed it right, I am and I cannot wait to get to 12 weeks to share our happy news!!!

"But sadly we lost our little one at nine weeks pregnant .. this is my second miscarriage although 3 1/2 years apart… this one hit differently because we allowed ourselves to get excited and dream about what the future would look like with a new beautiful little blessing to add to our family."

Jodie said that she hoped that by reading the post, others suffering a similar fate will be comforted by the knowledge that they are not alone. The former actress continued: "I have written out this post and deleted it so many times as my biggest fear has been having to tell people but I know that by talking or posting about it, it can be so helpful for anyone going through this painful loss ...

"The silence after the D&C procedure is deafening because you are left with so many thoughts and questions that can sometimes never be answered. I think it’s part of a positive healing process or maybe it’s just for me to remember that it was real and that little baby did exist and was loved so much."

She praised husband Kian, finishing the post with: "To my husband who has just been my rock .. you are the most amazing man... I love you and our boys so much and am so grateful for what I already have."

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