Former Hollyoaks actress Sarah Jayne Dunn has broken her silence following Channel 4 bosses sacking her after creating an OnlyFans account.

Ms Dunn has portrayed her character Mandy Richardson for over two decades, first appearing in the Channel 4 soap in 1996.

Explaining her decision to sign up to the controversial site, she said: “I'm simply moving my sexier, racier images to another platform.”

Sarah Jayne expressed her “disappointment” at Hollyoaks’ decision and says the show has no problem with her doing calendars or lads mags shoots.

Speaking to The Sun she said she would miss her “amazing” colleagues on the show.

She said: "I feel like I had to take a stand.

“For me this is about having the right as a woman of 40 years old to decide what is right for me."

She said she decided to create an OnlyFans account because she “worked hard” for her figure.

She added: "I’m not apologetic for that."

Sarah Jayne argued that what she is doing on OnlyFans is no different to the pre-Christmas calendar she does with Hollyoaks every year.

Channel 4's Hollyoaks issues statement 

Explaining their decision, Hollyoaks said: "We take our responsibility to our young audience very seriously and therefore the show does not allow any Hollyoaks cast members to be active on certain 18+ websites.

"We had hoped we could reach a resolution with Sarah that would allow her to remain in her role as Mandy, but we respect her choice to continue to produce content on OnlyFans.

"In the past four years since her return to the show her legacy character has been an integral part of some our most important storylines and we will be very sad to see her go."