Ex-Corrie star Catherine Tyldesley shared a meme of a frazzled-looking Barbie doll following the disastrous fallout of the ‘cakegate’ scandal, which lead to the actress to cancellng her 40th birthday bash.

The former Strictly contestant has faced a tough month after being embroiled in a  heated online backlash when a PR firm approached an independent bakery to supply free cakes for her bash. 

Catherine has since had to shut down the plans for 40th bash scheduled for September 1, and opt for a quieter celebration of the birthday milestone.   

The actress posted a meme of a haggard Barbie doll with disheveled hair, smudged make-up and panda eyes, with the caption  ‘Me trying to work, go to the gym, stay hydrated not be broke, maintain a social life, and get 8 hours of sleep every night’.

Above it, the actress concurred with the meme’s hilarious joke about the struggles of juggling it all with a concise : ‘Yup’.

The former Coronation Street star also posted wholesome photos of an outing  with children in an adventure park in Cheshire, clutching on to a toddler wearing a magenta pink outdoor onesie. 

Wearing the perfect outfit for a day out in the woods, Catherine was pictured wearing khaki-coloured trousers with a pair of wellies and a windbreaker. 

Catherine also reposted The Children’s Society’s post about helping struggling families by buying buying school uniform for vulnerable children. 

Three Little Birds Bakery, which is based in Keighley, West Yorkshire, was approached by Leeds-based party planners NVRLND, with an order for the cakes with payment in social media exposure and promotion in OK Magazine. 

A source close to the actress said: ‘Cath was blindsided by Cakegate and found the whole thing very upsetting so she’s decided on a quieter celebration. 

‘She doesn’t blame NVRLND, but the whole situation left a sour taste so she felt it best to call it off.’

‘NVRLND did not tell Ms Severs whose birthday celebration the request was for, simply saying it was a ‘well-known celebrity’.

The celebrity soap actress was planning a lavish celebration for her 40th birthday, but could not seem allocate any part of her budget towards paying the independent business run by a mum-of-two.

The former Strictly contestant shut down the plans for 40th birthday bash scheduled for September 1, after facing a fierce backlash from social media users for the now-infamous order which would ordinarily cost around £675.

Bakery owner Rebecca Severs has since won over an army of fans who have been forming long queues out of the door and the business has found that the phone is ringing off the hook with orders.

Speaking exclusively to the Mail, Rebecca (who prefers to be called Bec) says she never imagined her company, whose shop only opened three months ago, would cause such a furore. 

Tyldesley hit back at accusations, claiming that she had called off the order made by her party planners for bespoke cakes and 100 cupcakes.

Posting a video on her social media account titled ‘Cakegate – The Truth, Tyldesley told her 646,000 followers: ‘Cakegate, what? So, I had no idea those emails were being sent. 

‘I’m not working with the lovely OK! magazine on anything that I’m aware of and NVRLAND are an amazing company. 

‘They’ve supplied me with performers in the past.

‘They’re insane and they’ve been completely misrepresented in this matter. Utterly bizarre. 

‘Don’t really know what to say. I mean I hope the cake lady got the exposure she was craving, whilst I’ve got journalists knocking on my front door while my kids are playing in the front room, dead nice that babes. Thanks for coming.’

Seemingly missing the irony, Tyldesley filmed the video while wearing a £120 sweatshirt and £180 glasses, while sat in a £72,000 BMW.

In Bec’s viral Facebook post, which was liked and shared thousands of times, she wrote: ‘This poor celebrity apparently can’t afford to pay people for their products and services. Spare a thought! What happened to women supporting women.’ 

She received a flood of support from the public online, and later joked her bakery provides ‘delicious cakes and a generous side of sarcasm when necessary.’

One social media user commented: ‘Best response! Good for sticking to your guns!’

Another added: ‘Good for you!’ while a third wrote: ‘Love it!’

A fourth commented: ‘Got yourself a new follower here, purely because this response is exactly the level of business-like sarcasm I aspire to. Fab response.’

The list of requests included a main cake to fit in with the theme of ‘pinks, sparkles and a touch of flamingos’, a separate cake for her husband, photographer Tom Pitfield, who turns 37 on the day of the Manchester bash, and a spread of smaller treats.

Party planners NVRLND tried to sweeten the deal with the promise that the party would have ‘a guest lists full of celebrities and industry people from TV / film and music, so loads of work would come from it’. 

Replying to Leeds-based party planners NVRLND, Ms Severs confirmed she had availability but jokingly said: ‘I’m so sorry to hear that your client has fallen on such hard times they can’t afford to pay small businesses their products.

‘Unfortunately as my mortgage provider doesn’t take payment “in the form of promotion on their socials”, and my staff can’t feed their kids with exposure on Instagram, I’ll have to decline your very generous offer.’

After Bec’s post made headlines, the celebrity was revealed by the Daily Mail to be former Coronation Street actress and Strictly star Catherine Tyldesley, whose ill-judged retort on Instagram described the outcry over the exchange as ‘utterly bizarre’.

That is something of an ironic statement, some might say, from a television actress who is known, in the Greater Manchester area where she lives with her husband and two children, for seldom turning down a red-carpet event, party invitation or glitzy dinner.

Much has been made, too, of the fact that Catherine — who earned £100,000 a year on Corrie and has a reported net worth of £800,000 —isn’t the type of person who needs freebies, when it’s clear she could easily afford to pay full price.

Ms Tyldesley’s representatives have been contacted for comment.