Home and Away star Sophie Dillman reveals 'decade' long battle with 'invisible' illness

Daily Mail​

19-05-2025

Former Home and Away star Sophie Dillman has opened up about her decade long health battle that has left her with permanent scars.
The Aussie actress, 31, who played Ziggy Astoni in the Aussie soap series, revealed she has long suffered with endometriosis, a condition that sees tissue that is almost identical to the lining of the uterus grow outside of the area.
Symptoms of the illness can include debilitating pain, inflammation, fatigue, heavy bleeding and even infertility.
Speaking to 7News, Sophie said her pain was so bad during her time on the show she would often need a hot water bottle to get through a day of filming.
'Those days, they can hurt, being on your feet all day, running up and down, changing costumes, being in costumes that when I'm in a flare don't fit,' she said.
'We'd be rolling up and I'd pull the hot water bottle out of my pants and chuck it to the side and one of the camera assistants would grab it in between takes.'
Sophie went on to say she suffered permanent scarring on some parts of her stomach from using the hot water bottle for so long.
The actress, who has been struggling with pain since her first period, had an inkling it was endometriosis and demanded doctors test for the illness, despite them being adamant it wasn't.
'They found what they thought was just scar tissue and I said "no, I want you to test it, I think it is endometriosis" and I felt really strongly about that and it came back and it was endometriosis,' she said.
The often 'invisible' condition, which affects one in seven Australian women, can take up to six years to diagnose, hence why it is so often misdiagnosed.
In 2023, Sophie revealed some surprising behind-the-scenes secrets about the beloved soap.
The Aussie actress, who was on the show for six years, said many of her former co-stars are secretly covered in tattoos and 'fake' their kisses.
Sophie also said that the producers of the long-running hit use 'TV magic' to create the show's setting, Summer Bay, to make it seem like a tiny village.
'It looks like a walk from the caravan park onto the beach is a quick five minutes and the Farm Houses are just around the corner,' Sophie wrote in Yahoo Lifestyle at the time.
But in fact, Sophie revealed, the locations of the show's landmark's like the Farm House, the Surf Club, the beach and the caravan park are hours apart.
Much loved by fans for its 'hot' scenes of intimate kissing, Sophie said the passion is all acting.
'I hate to tell you but a lot of kisses that you see on-screen aren't entirely real,' she said.
'Most actors choose to use a 'stage kiss' to keep a degree of separation with their fellow co-stars,' Sophie continued.
'Essentially, the French part of the French kiss is taken out, if you catch my drift.'
Sophie famously ' dated' her real-life partner on the show, actor Patrick O'Connor, who played on-screen boyfriend Dean.
'Luckily, Dean and Ziggy didn't have to do much faking on set,' she cheekily added.