Actress Lynne McGranger has played Irene Roberts in Australian soap Home And Away for over 29 years, and here, Daily Star takes a closer look inside the icon’s life
This week in Home And Away, Irene Roberts breaks the wonderful news that the apartment above the diner is up for rent.
Irene, meanwhile, is uneasy about Cash’s lack of enthusiasm for Xander and Rose moving in.
Are Rose’s feelings for Cash likely to come back? Will Irene pick up on the strange energy between the two? The waiting game will begin for viewers.
Irene Roberts has been a part of Home And Away since 1993, and she is well-known to all of the Summer Bay characters as well as to the show’s viewers.
Actress Lynne McGregor has also led a pretty intriguing life apart from the serial opera.
Life away from Summer Bay
Following the departure of the original actress Jacquy Phillips from the role of Irene Roberts in 1993, Lynne McGranger rose to fame as a Home And Away legend.
She did, however, start out in stage musicals like West Side Story and Bye Bye Birdy before obtaining her first TV role in a The Flying Doctors episode from Australia.
Although Lynne is most known for her roles in Home And Away and its many spin-offs, she has more recently made appearances in TV shows including Equivocal Resolve.
Not only that, but Lynne has also resumed her theater career by routinely performing in UK pantomimes.
But Irene Roberts will always remain Lynne’s first love, as she said to Now To Love: “I’ve been on the show for 29 years, so people must either love Irene or they can’t tolerate her because we all love to detest someone on TV.
“At the airport, a man once said, “Oh, you play Irene? You’re such a pain in the a**, God! That implies to me that I’m carrying out my duties, in my opinion.
“I’m satisfied as long as I’m one of those and people keep turning the TV back on.”
Health battle
In 2021, Lynne McGranger published Acting Up – Me, Myself, and Irene, her autobiography, in which she discussed her history with an eating disorder.
She added that there was pressure on actresses to have a specific appearance during her early years on Home And Away in an interview with The Daily Telegraph after the publication of the book.
She clarified that this was no longer the case, however, by saying: “Young ladies would undoubtedly be called aside when I first started working on the show and told they were adding a little weight and needed to do something. Today, everything is completely different.”
In the book, the celebrity was frank about her professional highs and lows as well as her personal life. In an interview with TV Week, the actress stated: “We all experience trials and tribulations in life.
This is my autobiography. I may be regretful about some of the things that happened, but I don’t want to live a life of regret because if they hadn’t, I wouldn’t be who I am or where I am today.
Almost axed from soap
In an unexpected turn of events during an interview in 2019, Lynne learned that her role in the soap opera might have been cut.
The actress revealed in her autobiography that she was speaking to WSFM’s Jonesy and Amanda when Jonesy stunned her by revealing that she nearly lost her role in the serial opera in 2002.
Lynne apologised and said, “What?” before learning that a producer named Coral Drouyn had pushed to preserve the character in the serial opera despite news of her probable termination being on her Wikipedia page.
Family life
Actress Lynne McGranger has been in a relationship with her husband Paul McWaters for more than 30 years, whilst Irene Roberts has had a problematic love life in Summer Bay.
The couple had a daughter named Clancy who is 31 years old, but Lynne experienced tragedy when she miscarried her second child in 1996.
In the soap opera, Lynne’s miscarriage also happened around the same time that Irene Roberts announced her pregnancy. Lynne called filming the pregnancy announcement a “difficult and rocky” period but thanked the cast and staff for their support.
Since then, Lynne has also given Paul a heartfelt tribute and acknowledged his contribution to Home And Away.
She remarked to Women’s Day: “In addition to being a beautiful man, without him I would not have been able to do what I have on Home And Away. He assumed the role of Clancy’s primary caregiver and domestic partner.”
The pair has been together for over 30 years, but they have never wed. Irene jokes that if they ever do, “it will probably be a barbecue in the garden.”
But in a wonderful twist of fate, New To Love reported in 2021 that Clancy, Lynne’s daughter, had just gotten engaged.
Sweet Neighbours tribute
Two of Australia’s most popular shows ever are Home and Away and Neighbours, which have won over fans around the world over the years.
However, the abrupt ending of Neighbours after 37 years devastated many fans. Stars from Home And Away also paid respect to the serial.
On her Twitter page, Lynne paid a heartfelt ode to the Neighbours cast, writing: “A big thank you to the entire cast and staff of #Neighbours. Present and past.
“Thanks for the memories and chookas for the future. I’m now in the UK, so I’ll miss (or have missed) the conclusion, but I’ll make sure to see it when I get back.
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