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Reference > Erinsborough News > Bye-Bye, Baby

Kym Valentine knows she’ll need lots of tissues on hand when she films her final scenes on Neighbours this Friday.

A decade after she began portraying Ramsay Street golden girl Libby Kennedy, Kym is preparing to bid farewell to the cast and crew of the long-running weeknight drama.

The 27-year-old actress and singer is quitting the series to tackle a new career challenge – the lead role of Baby in the upcoming stage musical Time Of My Life, based on the hit ‘80s film Dirty Dancing. The production will open in Sydney later this year.

While Kym reveals the role is a dream come true, she can’t help but feel sad at the prospect of leaving her ‘surrogate family’ on Neighbours.

“I had a moment last week when I thought ‘Oh my gosh! This is ending!’ I think it’s all starting to hit me now,” she says. “I always said that I would know in my heart when it was time to go and I do know that now, but at the same time I still love what I do. It’s a hard thing to say goodbye to.”

Over the past 10 years, Kym has formed a close bond with actors Alan Fletcher and Jackie Woodburne, who play her on-screen parents. “They’re very much family to me,” she says. “We’ll absolutely stay in touch.”

A huge fan of Dirty Dancing, Kym confesses she simply had to audition for the musical. “It’s one of those cult films that you don’t see just once,” she says. “I was so excited when I heard about this production.”

Kym concedes she tried not to get her hopes up during the audition process. “I never rate myself too high,” she says. “I don’t think you can get complacent.”

Kym and her husband Fabio are the parents of 10-month-old Millana. “I started training in singing, dancing and acting when I was much younger,” she says. “I kept training until I was 17, when I moved to Melbourne (for Neighbours). I’d just started up my dancing again after Millana was born as a way to get fit, so it was perfect timing.”

Meanwhile, Kym will still be seen on screen as Libby until November. And she reveals there’s a good chance she may one day return to the role. “I’d never say no,” she says.

This article originally appeared in TV Week magazine, dated July 2004 and was written by Jackie Brygel

Article submitted by Steve