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"Michelle Collins has admitted that she keeps her hair long in an attempt to move on from her EastEnders character Cindy Beale. The actress told Radio Times that the blonde still remains in the public consciousness, despite being written out 12 years ago. Cindy joined Albert Square in 1988 and went on to become notorious thanks to her lies and schemes. She was finally killed off in 1998. Speaking of her early days in the soap, Collins commented: &amp;quot;Cindy arrived for 11 episodes, working on a hat stall and as a tease for Wicksy, but evolved into a much juicier character. She did things that other people wished they could and was crying out for attention from men.  &amp;quot;[EastEnders creator] Julia Smith said it would change my life. I didn&amp;#039;t believe her - how wrong I was. I left 12 years ago and did a huge amount of work to escape Cindy, but sometimes it feels as if she never went away.  &amp;quot;I can&amp;#039;t get my hair cut short because, when I do, I look like Cindy. Still, it&amp;#039;s better to be remembered as a soap icon than not at all.&amp;quot; Collins has previously said that she would not rule out another soap stint. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/eastenders/news/a200750/michelle-collins-avoids-cindy-look/>