Hollyoaks star Stephanie Waring secretly elopes to marry boyfriend Tom Thornton-Brookes in the Maldives after four years
HOLLYOAKS star Stephanie Waring has secretly married her boyfriend of four years after eloping to the Maldives.
The soap star – who was recently axed after playing Cindy Cunningham for 28 years – wed Tom Thornton-Brookes at a five-star resort on Ifuru Island.
The pair have been together for four years, with Stephanie confirming the relationship in 2021 after a few months together.
In a stunning snap published by OK!, Steph is seen in her wedding dress after making a “last-minute decision” to say ‘I Do’.
She told the magazine: ‘When we booked this holiday to the Maldives, Tom said: ‘Do you want to get married?’ and I just replied, ‘Yeah.'”
Tom added: “I was having a look online at where we were staying and I saw they did weddings.
“I’m quite an impromptu person in some senses, so it just felt right. We just jumped at this chance.”
Stephanie is a mum-of-two to Lexi Grace, 18, with her ex Dan Hooper, and Mia, 13, with a former partner.
Her daughters weren’t at their wedding, but she FaceTimed them to show off her gown.
The 46-year-old became the only original character to be included in Hollyoaks’ recent cull of 20 cast members.
The move came as part of a shock shake-up which will see Hollyoaks become ‘Britain’s first national digital-led soap’, moving from Channel 4 to YouTube and E4 and being cut from five episodes a week to three.
Steph told The Sun at the time: “I did expect more loyalty after almost three decades.
“We’re just normal people who happen to be on the telly, we still have all pressures of paying the bills – so I won’t be taking time out.”
In an exclusive interview with The Sun, Steph said: “I was learning all week of the people who were going, and I remember crying at one of them, and I had this gut feeling that I would be too.
“But another part of me was thinking ‘I’ve just signed a year-long contract, surely it won’t be me’. Everyone was telling me I would be fine as I’m an original character.
“In the meeting they read from a script and a tear fell from my eye because I could just feel it in the room.
“They got to the end and said ‘And with that, we will be losing Cindy from the show’. I just kept saying ‘I don’t understand’. I was very distraught, I didn’t take it well – I was probably the most dramatic person they told.
“I just kept telling them ‘I’m an original character’. I was clutching at anything – telling them ‘but I was the first person to give birth on the show!’ I could see the distress I was causing them because they were upset that I was so upset.”