Doncaster CBeebies star sacked over nude photos says firing left her homeless and £100k in debt

49-year-old former Cbeebies host Sarah-Jane Honeywell posed topless, lying on a giant plate of food in London’s Trafalgar Square, for a Peta advert in 2011.

But in an exclusive interview with The Sun the presenter has spoken of her axing more than a decade ago and how it left her ‘suicidal’ - and estranged from her former pal, Justin Fletcher, better known as TV’s Mr Tumble.

She said: “After that, all the doors were slammed in my face.

“I couldn’t get any auditions because people didn’t take me seriously and just passed me off as a children’s TV weirdo. Financially it was an absolute disaster.”

Sarah-Jane, who has two children with her Hollyoaks actor husband Ayden Callaghan, 41, says: “We lost everything. As a result we were forced to live in the garage of my parents’ home for three years.

“As well as losing my job at CBeebies, I had also been through a breakup and it left my financial situation in ruins.

“Ayden and I both worked really hard all our lives, and then we suddenly found ourselves living in this tiny space with two children.”

Sarah-Jane worked closely with Fletcher for 12 years on shows including Higgledy House and Tikkabilla, but says she noticed a huge disparity between their roles.

“There was one occasion when we were both working on separate shows not long before I got fired,” Sarah-Jane recalled.

“At the time Justin had two dressers and Winnebago and a driver, I had none of those things.”

Sarah-Jane struggled to get on with some members of the team and felt like she became a target, recalling one incident where a colleague told her she looked “old, ugly and her hair was too long”.

“I haven’t heard from Justin since then, which was heartbreaking, I think he wanted to distance himself from me but I really regret losing that friendship.”

Sarah-Jane admits she is still “too bitter and twisted” to let her children watch Cbeebies.

“Letting my boys watch Cbeebies would make me sad because I really did love that job,” she added.

“I don’t wish the channel any harm because I love it, it’s brilliantly entertaining, but I avoid it because it makes my soul hurt.”

Sarah-Jane is now back on her feet with a stable job at BBC Radio Lincoln where she presents the Sunday afternoon show, as well as running her own drama school Curious Theatre.

And she has no regrets about the photo shoot which ended her kids’ TV career.

“I'm proud that I I tried to do something good,” she said.

“I don't know if I went about it the right way but I just, I just tried to help a charity really and I like the photo. I look good.”

Worksop-born Sarah-Jane, who began her career as an acrobat in Doncaster, studied at Ordsall Hall School.

At 18, she got her first job, working in Malta as a contortionist for three months having trained with an acrobatic troupe the Great Kovaks in Doncaster.