'Coronation Street' Actress Katie Redford 'Distraught' Over Abuse Online, After Being Sacked For Lying About Her Age

'It Wasn't Katie's Decision To Lie About Her Age'
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Sacked 'Coronation Street' actress Katie Redford is said to be "distraught" after being the victim of online abuse.

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It was announced earlier this month that Katie had been cast in the role of "wild child" teenager Bethany Platt, with a press release from 'Corrie' claiming the actress was 19 years old.

However, after online profiles suggested she was actually 25 - just two years younger than Tina O'Brien, who would have been her screen mum - 'Coronation Street' bosses made the decision to recast the role before Katie even set foot on the cobbles.

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Katie Redford

Her agent, Jo McLintock, has now sprung to her defence, insisting it wasn't Katie's decision to lie about her age.

“We said ‘If they ask you your age, just let them believe you are 19’. It is common knowledge – people do that all the time.

"Unfortunately they wrote in their press release that she was 19 and we let it go out, thinking it would pass. Obviously it didn’t."

She also revealed that Katie has been the victim of "horrific texts, emails and phone calls", adding: "Now she is distraught, really upset, There are some very jealous people out there.

"People are saying nasty things. We have told her to ignore them all."

Bethany Platt will return to 'Corrie', with a new actress playing her, later this year, and is thought to be raising trouble right from the moment she's back in Weatherfield, even tricking one resident into buying her a drink in the Rovers Return - despite the fact she's only 14 years old.

Celebrities Who've Lied About Their Age
James Blunt(01 of12)
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James was caught out after shaving two years off his age. Whoops! (credit:Britta Pedersen/DPA)
Sandra Bullock(02 of12)
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America's sweetheart lied about her age to get a movie role -- for someone older. In 1992, she told Barbara Walters: "I lied two years ago to get this part in Love Potion #9. They said, 'We want an older scientist.' I go there and I say I'm 29. After a while, you have no idea how old you are because you've lied so many times. I always said I would never lie, but one time, when I didn't it worked against me. So I figure you just keep them guessing." (credit:Getty)
Eminem(03 of12)
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The rapper lied about his age while on-air with Howard Stern in 1999, saying he was 24 when he was actually 26. (You can watch the video here). (credit:Getty)
Nadine Coyle(04 of12)
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Nadine won a place in a girlband on the Irish series of 'Popstars', however she was ditched when producers found out that she'd lied, pretending to be 18 years old when she was actually 16. (credit:Jason LaVeris via Getty Images)
Whoopi Goldberg(05 of12)
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Whoopi is one of a (very small...) group of celebs who actually ADDED years to her age. It's thought that she added five years to her real age, as casting directors thought she was too young to be in showbiz. (credit:Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Nicki Minaj(06 of12)
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Talk about a fail: Nicki Minaj was caught red-handed in a lie when a police report the "Super Bass" rapper filed showed her birth date as December 9, 1982 - not 1984, as she had previously claimed. (credit:Getty)
Agyness Deyn(07 of12)
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Surprise! This British hipster model was actually a good six years older than what she had been telling everyone for years. "When I decided I would really do modelling I was like 18, and I think at the time that was quite old for a new face, so we knocked off a few years," she admitted to The Guardian in 2012. "I'm 29, I feel like that's the age when you start to think about life. What is this all about? Who am I?" (credit:Getty)
Katie Reford(08 of12)
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Katie was cast as 'Coronation Street' character Bethany Platt, who is 14 years, after stating that she was 19 in the auditions. After bosses announced the casting, eagle-eyed members of the public noticed that Katie's date of birth, as displayed on her online CV, made her 25.The decision was then made to recast the role.
Nicole Scherzinger(09 of12)
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In 2008, the Pussycat Doll singer listed her age on the group's website as 28. Too bad she was actually 30 years old at the time, something to which she admitted to Blender magazine. "I should say I'm 27," she quipped. (credit:Getty)
Jamie Lomas(10 of12)
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In February 2014, it was revealed that Jamie was actually 38, while a number of websites listed him as being 33. He insisted that he'd never actively encouraged the lies though, telling The Sun: "I have never lied about my age. My correct age has been printed many times. "If I was to lie, I’d age up so at least people would say I look younger than I actually am.” (credit:Joel Ryan/Invision/AP)
Paloma Faith (11 of12)
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Paloma lied about her age when she first started out in the music industry. "When I was asked what my age was in that first meeting, I blurted out 23, when I was actually 27,” she admitted in 2014.“I didn’t plan on doing it beforehand and it wasn’t a calculated thing." (credit:Joel Ryan/Invision/AP/Invision/AP)
Anastacia (12 of12)
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The singer revealed that she was turning 40 in 2008, declaring that she was no longer going to tell fibs about her date of birth. (credit:Dan Steinberg/Invision/AP)