Hollyoaks actor Kieron Richardson made his soap debut as Ste Hay back in 2006.
The troubled character has been at the centre of several storylines including domestic abuse, drug dealing, HIV, far right radicalisation and a gay relationship.
This week, Ste resorts to desperate measures that could leave Sienna Blake (Anna Passey) in a lot of trouble.
Although things are looking up for Ste, he quickly realises the danger he’s in and turns to old business partner,Sienna for help.
Later, he gets the shock of a lifetime as evil Ethan Williams (Matthew James-Bailey) shows him the consequences of his actions and he has to say goodbye to a friend.
Kieron's character was initially portrayed as a "bad boy" allthough he's changed over the years.
The issue of domestic violence has been portrayed through the character on two occasions.
The first was Ste's violence towards girlfriend Amy Barnes (Ashley Slanina-Davies), and the second when he suffered abuse from his boyfriend Brendan Brady (Emmett J. Scanlan).
Away from Chester, Kieron is married to partner Carl Hyland and the couple are parents to twins Phoebe and Chase.
As Ste's set to take centre stage in Hollyoaks over the next few weeks, Daily Star has taken a look into Kieron's life away from the Channel 4 soap.
TV fame
Kieron was born in Eccles, Greater Manchester.
After appearing briefly in the late night Hollyoaks: In the City, he was offered the role of Ste Hay in Hollyoaks where he appeared for 19 episodes.
The character was written out of the show after stealing a car, which resulted in a spectacular crash and Set getting sent to prison.
He returned to Hollyoaks in 2007 and has been a regular cast member since.
The actor has also made appearances in Holby City, Heartbeat and the feature film Fragments, as well as the pantomime Cinderella as Prince Charming at The Embassy Theatre, Skegness, in 2006.
Kieron took part in 2010 series of ITV's Dancing on Ice and was paired with series newcomer Brianne Delcourt.
The pair reached the final and finished in third place.
Coming out
The actor came out as gay during a live TV interview with Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield on ITV daytime show This Morning.
Kieron realised when The X Factor winner Joe McElderry was brave enough to tell the world he was homosexual, he could also come out without it ruining his career.
Kieron told BANG Showbiz at the time: "I'd never seen anyone my age say it before and then when Joe McElderry came out and said it I thought, 'Maybe I can be young and come out and say I'm gay and it's not going to affect my career.'
"I'd say he helped me in the fact that he was a similar age to me. Seeing him do it really inspired me."
He admitted he used to "dodge the question" when fans asked about his sexuality.
Speaking at the 2010 Inside Soap Awards, Kieron said: "All the people who cared about me already knew and the people who don't care about me didn't need to know.
"I was never going to hide it, I thought it was time to be open and honest and say, 'Yeah guys, I am gay.'
"People in the street used to ask me and I used to kind of dodge the question because I didn't know whether I was allowed to say."
Online abuse
Kieron has previously opened up about the horrendous homophobic abuse he received on social media.
The actor received a number of insulting messages following a mix-up involving his namesake, footballer Kieran Richardson.
It began in July 2014 after sporting star Kieran made headlines for joining Aston Villa after leaving Fulham.
Soap star Kieron received dozens of tweets from football fans who confused him with Villa's new signing, but the humorous mix-up took a darker turn when he saw that a number of the messages contained homophobic remarks.
Speaking out on hisGaydio radio show at the time, Kieron argued that the situation proves homophobia within football is still a problem, although he stressed that the messages had come from "a minute section" of fans.
He explained: "At first I didn't think anything of it and thought it was quite funny, until I went onto my Twitter feed and people genuinely thought I'd left Hollyoaks and signed for Aston Villa.
"I've never received homophobic abuse, but as soon as my name is associated with football, I've been opened up to this horrific Twitter feed that I have to see."
Kieron has since been named Rising Star of the Year at the Out in the City/G3 Readers Awards, which recognise outstanding commitment to promoting equality and diversity in relation to the LGBT community.
Star-studded wedding
Kieron announced his engagement to long term boyfriend Carl Hyland in July 2014, after being together for several years.
Speaking to The Mirror at the time, he said: "I just got engaged. It’s really exciting.
"We’ve been together for over seven years so it’s not a shock."
The happy couple tied the knot in a star-studded wedding in the Peak District in April 2015.
In beautiful photos from outside the Buxton Dome, Kieron and Carl could be seen proudly surrounded by their 12 bridesmaids – who all wore stunning wedding gowns.
Hollyoaks babes Stephanie Davis, Jennifer Metcalfe, Jorgie Porter, Jazmine Franks, Gemma Merna and Bronagh Waugh were among the bridesmaids wearing white dresses along with blonde star Emily Atack, who Kieron met on Dancing on Ice.
Co-stars Fabrizio Santino, Anna Passey and Stephanie Waring were also at the fancy nuptials.
Iconic band The Drifters performed at the couple’s reception, and there was also a catwalk show.
Baby joy
The TV personality announced in 2016 that he and Carl were expecting twins via surrogacy after four previous failed attempts at starting a family.
The TV star shared the exciting news on Instagram, with a festive-themed video in which the couple unwrapped a board with the announcement on.
"Merry Christmas to us thanks to the British Surrogacy Centre," he penned as the caption.
With I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday playing in the background, the camera pans across a sparkly Christmas tree that revealed two "Baby on board" signs.
The camera then pans out to include Richardson and Hyland in the shot and they unwrapped a board reading: "Twins coming 2017".
Kieron and Carl hosted a fun-filled fourth birthday party for Phoebe and Chase last year.
They went all out for their little ones as they decked out a room with a teepee full of colourful pillows, incredible balloon displays, and candy of all sorts.
The Hollyoaks star took to his Instagram feed to share several photos from the happy day for his social media followers to see.
Kieron's first snap showed a gorgeous photo of the family standing in front of a unicorn-themed balloon display, which boasted colours of yellow, green, pink, purple, blue and white alongside an artificial grass pad.
Working with husband
Kieron and Carl worked together to film a documentary about opened about life as same-sex parents called Raised By Queers.
During the documentary, Kieron talked viewers through the exciting months ahead of the twins' birth, along with the struggles he and husband Carl have faced due to being same-sex parents.
With the birth filmed for the documentary, the Hollyoaks actor said: "In that moment right there, our lives had changed forever."
Excitedly speaking out about how he felt, he admitted: "I feel like words you could never describe in a million years. It's the most surreal experience ever."
Carl was brought in to film Hollyoaks as a body double last year.
He popped by the Liverpool set in May to act as John Paul McQueen's stand-in,
Due to Covid concerns and social distancing rules between actors, body doubles brought in by shows who require characters to be closer during certain moments are typically family members of the existing cast.
This Morning 'slip-up'
Kieron appeared on This Morning back in 2017 to discuss a major Hollyoaks storyline.
He caused a massive when he appeared live on ITV's daytime show and seemingly gave away the outcome of the 'Who Killed Amy Barnes?' storyline.
His character Ste was the prime suspect in the case, and Kieron appeared to confirm his character's guilt when he let slip that he'd filmed an explosive murder scene with co-star Ashley Slanina-Davies.
While most viewers assumed that Kieron had badly messed up - who can blame them after he fled from the sofa in terror - it turned out that the whole thing was staged as a joke.
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Soaps guru Sharon Marshall revealed the bombshell news telling hosts Phil and Holly that she'd now seen a secret video Kieron filmed about his prank in advance.
Sharon explained: "I saw a video of him before that interview and he said 'I'm going to be acting, and pretend I've made a slip-up'."
Sure enough, Kieron then tweeted the video in question, proving that he was acting all along.
Hollyoaks airs weekdays on Channel 4 at 6.30pm followed by first-look episodes on E4 at 7pm
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