Aussie soap Home and Away introduced fans to city girl turned beach babe Ziggy Astoni , a troubled wild child with some major family troubles in tow, back in 2017.
The rebel character has given fans a slew of dramatic storylines during her time in Summer Bay, between getting kidnapped, supporting her mum through a cancer diagnosis, and discovering her husband’s affair.
But actress Sophie Dillman lives a very different life to that of her rebellious alter-ego.
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As she enjoys a budding romance with one of the soap’s sexiest stars and struggles with a crippling health battle of her own, Daily Star get to know the stunning actress who brought this rebel character to life.
Co-star romance
The soap opera star is often seen smooching her on-screen beau Dean Thompson on the Aussie soap, but fans may not know that the Sophie is also dating actor Patrick O’Connor in real life.
The actors opened up about their relationship back in 2021, telling TV Week about how they became friends before falling in love.
"We were work buddies first, and it's helped us work well together now, so we're lucky in that regard," she said.
"It's nice to have a relationship built on friendship. At the core we are best mates first and we treat each other like that, but it's also made our relationship stronger starting out that way."
The couple recently adopted a cute little cavoodle named Winnie, who made an appearance with them on This Morning Australia back in May.
While on the talk show, they also spoke about keeping their work and home life separate, and how it sometimes becomes difficult to do that.
"The hardest bit is if you have an argument at home and then you have to go immediately into a love scene," Sophie explained. "But you laugh about it afterwards."
"We're pretty good. We've had a lot of practice now, so it's fine," she added.
Health battle
Her on-screen character Ziggy is often seen as sassy, confident – and a little bit of a rebel. But actress Sophie has spoken out revealing that her off-screen life has left her with condition that leaves her battling crippling pain.
The 29-year-old has spent most of her life battling endometriosis, which is caused when tissue that is similar to the lining of the uterus grows outside the womb, causing pain and often infertility.
"Ziggy is really confident – I sometimes wish I had a bit more of that in me," Sophie tells Woman's Day from her Sydney home.
"I do remember a couple of times waking up in the morning and fainting and vomiting from the pain in high school," says Sophie, who has undergone three surgeries to remove tissue growths since she was diagnosed with the condition at the age of 21.
Sophie, who was a registered nurse before launching her acting career, was 20 when she underwent laparoscopic surgery for the first time for endometriosis.
“I was very lucky that, after my first surgery, I had five years where I was relatively pain-free,” she says. “That was until about 18 months ago when I started getting the pain back – and that’s when it got really tough.”
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Juggling a busy work and social life while dealing with pain and bloating, Sophie has found ways to cope through exercise, diet, medication and getting plenty of sleep.
On her worst days, the Mazda ambassador is grateful to have the support of her online community, family, friends and her partner, Home And Away co-star Patrick O'Connor.
"Patrick is an incredibly supportive partner – he listens to me, and he's so patient with me.
"Everyone at work is so supportive as well. I'm very lucky.”
Glam snaps
Despite her health battle, the blonde stunner lives a very active and glamorous life off-screen and often shares updates with her 285k Instagram followers.
Earlier this year the star and her boyfriend Patrick O’Connor had the time of their lives as they have shared photos from their holiday in Mykonos, Greece.
In a post on Instagram captioned "Mykonos has him now," O'Connor, posted pictures of himself and Dillman with the Greek island as their backdrop.
Another snap shows the star all glammed in a statement ball gown for her appearance at the 2022 Logies.
The black and white lace dress featured a low cut neckline which accentuated her assets and an over the top red opera coat.
Fans flocked to the comments to compliment the star on her stunning look.
One fan gushed: “Speechless. I am without speech.”
Another added: “God damn you are one beautiful woman” while a third added: “Regardless if you win or not, you won with this fit.”
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