Home and Away star Sarah Roberts reveals disappointment over Willow's exit

Former Home and Away star Sarah Roberts has opened up on her exit from the soap five years ago, revealing she "didn’t want to leave at all". Roberts played Willow Harris from 2017 to 2021, before the character departed Summer Bay for Queensland.

Speaking on her Cracking On podcast with fellow Home and Away alum Sam Frost, Roberts revealed that it was the soap's producers who decided her time was up.

Related: Home and Away receives criticism for leaving out LGBTQ+ characters in 2026

"I was told there was nowhere for my character to go," she revealed. "At the time, I was pretty Debbie Downer about it. [The] honest truth was I didn’t want to go, but hindsight is a gift, and I’m not just saying that."

Roberts said playing Willow "wasn't just a job" for her, adding: "A lot was tied up in those four years that I was on the show.

"You know, I got married, I raised a stepdaughter who I called my own daughter. Home and Away did become my family."

The actress married her co-star James Stewart, who plays Justin, in 2019, with the couple splitting in 2024. During that time, Roberts had also lost her brother Karl to brain cancer and experienced two miscarriages.

Roberts said she was left "grieving" everything she'd lost, explaining: "All these things were kind of just dropping off, you know. So, I guess when I think about, 'Did I want to leave Home and Away or did I want to stay?' For me, that question is so loaded.

"Because when I think of the show, I think of everything that I went through during that period that I was on the show as well as behind the scenes."

She continued: "And no, a lot of the stuff that happened to me during that time, I didn’t want to happen."

Roberts described the period as "like the end of an era and a huge closing of a chapter” when her time on-screen was done.

However, Roberts said she is now "glad" that her Home and Away exit happened when it did because it's allowed her to explore new opportunities.

Related: 14 huge Home and Away spoilers for next week (16 to 19 November)

"I get to challenge myself, I get to play new characters, work with different actors, I get to film like real stunt scenes and play complex characters that have these great arcs," she went on.

"[I'm] not saying that the characters on Home and Away didn’t - and I loved my time on the show - but [now] I’m challenged, and I’m growing.

"I love to grow, and I get to do this podcast… and go after new opportunities all around the world. So you know, it all worked out for the best, I guess."

Since exiting Home and Away, Roberts has appeared in Wolf Like Me, Scrublands, Colin from Accounts and Return to Paradise.

Home and Away drops new episodes on weekdays at 6am on 5’s streaming service with a 6.30pm screening on 5STAR.

In Australia, the show airs Mondays to Thursdays at 7pm on Channel 7 and streams on 7Plus.

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