Stephanie Waring says an emotional goodbye to her Hollyoaks character in heartfelt tribute on her last day of filming after almost three decades of playing 'icon' Cindy

Hollyoaks star Stephanie Waring said an emotional goodbye to the Channel 4 soap as she paid a heartfelt tribute to her character on her last day of filming. Hollyoaks star Stephanie Waring was emotional on Wednesday as she 'said goodbye' to the show forever and headed to her last day on set The actress, 46, who has played Cindy Cunningham for 28 years, took to Instagram with a heartfelt message about her time on the British soap In a lengthy and tear-jerking post, Stephanie penned a tribute to her character Cindy The soap star wrote: 'I knew today would be hard. She has played Cindy Cunningham in the Cheshire soap since 1998, and is the only original cast member to be axed Stephanie's fiance Tom, who got down on one knee in December 2021 after one year of dating, went on to praise his partner's 'unwavering commitment, resilience, and passion' and reassured her that she can look forward to 'exciting new adventures that lie ahead' The message from her fiancé was equally as devastating, as he described today as a 'bittersweet moment filled with both pride and nostalgia' The soap star wrote: 'I knew today would be hard. However I have been putting my feelings about saying goodbye to the life I have known for 16 years in a box The star admitted that while she had a 'gut feeling' she was going to be axed, she had also just signed a year-long contract which she thought would save her from the recent cuts Emotional fans in the comments of the post shared their own sweet goodbye messages to Stephanie's character Cindy It was reported in April that bosses had decided to axe twenty cast members, but a majority of their identities had not yet been revealed Emotional fans in the comments of the post shared their own sweet goodbye messages to Stephanie's character Cindy, quipping: 'Nooo! It comes after Stephanie broke down in tears earlier this year as she took to Instagram to share another very candid post about her devastation of her upcoming exit In the teary video, she told about the toll it has taken on her, saying: 'Today I had to say goodbye to some crew members I have been working with for the last 16 years' Stephanie posted a selection of snaps from her time on the show when she initially broke the news of her departure to fans earlier this year She continued how she has to be positive otherwise she would 'just gonna go another way.'