Corrie’s Linda Baldwin star ditched fame after affair with gangster and became ‘recluse’

Jacqueline Chadwick is best known for her roles in Coronation Street and , however, has embarked on a different career since turning her back on acting.

Famed for her stint as Linda Baldwin between 1998 and 2001, and previously as Tina Dingle in , the actress has since chosen a quieter life away from the soap scene.

Jacqueline, 48, became welcomed a daughter named Alexandra in 1997, which influenced her decision to step out of the public eye. The father, Christopher Stone, was Birmingham’s infamous gang leader whom Jacqueline was determined to distance from their child.

Despite his role as Alexandra’s father, Jacqueline kept Christopher’s name off the birth certificate, assuring friends at the time: “Chris and I are finished. I know he’s Alexandra’s father but there’s no way he’ll be playing daddy.”

However, she admitted that having her first child turned her into a “recluse”. Speaking to The Mirror, she said: “I doted on her too much. There was nothing else in my life. I was so in love with her I didn’t go out for a year. I didn’t even go out for my birthday.

“I became a recluse and suddenly I didn’t want to do anything but be with her. It was unhealthy for her and me. Before she was born I used to love having a drink and partying but I changed overnight.

Jacqueline continued: I would say, ‘Oh no, the baby needs me’. It was stupid. The baby was sick of me by the time she was a year old. She didn’t want to look at me. My mum would go, ‘Will you leave that baby alone. All you do is kiss her’.”

Jacqueline later married Simon Chadwick in 2001, and they have another child together. After leaving the iconic cobbles of ITV’s 23 years ago, Jacqueline is now barely recognisable, having swapped the limelight for a life dedicated to family and crime novel writing.

A stark contrast to her soap character days, Jacqueline now sports a chic short blonde bob, ditching her former dark locks and embracing an updated aesthetic complete with glasses, reports .

Jacqueline hasn’t had any on-screen roles since leaving in 2001. However, in 2004 she decided to start a drama workshop, named The Jacqueline Chadwick Academy of Performing Arts.

She opened two drama schools, one in her home town of Stirling and another in British Columbia, Canada. But in 2016, Jacqueline made another career switch and began writing crime novels, publishing her first book, In The Still, in 2017.

Jacqueline confessed: “When I started out in the soaps, celebrity didn’t exist and your private life was pretty much your own. That all changed in the Noughties when the phenomenon of stardom took off.”

“After having my two children, I decided it was time to quit acting as I didn’t want them to be forced into the limelight because of me. I wanted to concentrate on things that really mattered being a wife and mother.

“Turning to writing was a no-brainer. I’ve always, for as long as I can remember, squirrelled myself away writing between acting jobs and even during breaks between scenes.”