It was already a difficult day for actress Fleur Saville as she performed her final scenes on Shortland Street and said goodbye to her co-stars. But as she hugged Harry McNaughton, who plays Gerald Tippett, in a tearful
on-screen farewell, the star reveals she was also mourning the sudden death of her precious pet cat just hours before.

“It was tough,” recalls Fleur (25), who played the clinic’s uptight PA Libby Jeffries for four years before leaving in February. “My cat Miso got hit by a car, and these lovely people took her to the vet. It was my last day and I couldn’t leave, and my boyfriend [musician Jon Harding] was working, so Harry actually went to the
vet for me. He was Miso’s uncle.”

One of Fleur’s best friends off screen as well as on, Harry was with Miso when she passed away after the accident. Fleur was able to leave filming briefly to see the three-year-old Burmese cat, but had
to return to shoot her last scenes and farewell the cast and crew.

“Emotions were running high,” she says, although some comic relief was added by former co-star Nisha Madhan, who played nurse Shanti Kumari. “Nisha made everyone wear these glasses. I’m into dress-ups so we were doing our speeches but everyone was wearing silly glasses,” Fleur says.

Fleur honoured the “massive personality” of her beloved cat by holding a farewell ceremony at the two bedroom inner-city flat she and Jon (32) bought together. “All my good friends came around and we held candles and sat around and said what we loved about her. It was really nice.” The striking young star adds that the couple’s cosy home doesn’t feel quite the same since they lost their “fur-baby” Miso, but there are no plans to get another pet for the time being. “I can’t go through that again,” she says.

Since leaving her hectic job on Shorty Street, Fleur has made the most of her newfound freedom by flying overseas for a 10-week holiday in southern California. In a strange twist, her character Libby left her job at the hospital in order to roam the US too. “It was a complete coincidence that Libby was going to America as well, but I thought it was a really nice synchronicity,” she says.

Fleur road-tripped with friends around Los Angeles, Las Vegas and San Francisco, where she fell in love with the famous Golden Gate Bridge. “It was so amazing, I was a lame tourist and bought a key ring of it,” she giggles. “I learned to play [casino game] craps in Vegas and I went snowboarding up near Lake Tahoe. It was one of those amazing days with blue skies and half-a-metre of powder snow,” she reminisces. “I want to go back there now!”

Along with some souvenirs and plenty of new clothes, Fleur also brought a new obsession back from the US. “I found the most amazing place in LA where they practise Kundalini yoga,” Fleur explains. “I love it. I’d potentially like to become a teacher one day. I was into Bikram yoga before, but then I found this. It’s more holistic and isn’t just about exercise. “We did chants and meditation,” she continues, adding that it’s something she can’t imagine her former character Libby doing. “I’m a secret hippy!”

Now back home in Kingsland, Auckland, Fleur is enjoying not having to get up for the early morning starts on Shortland Street. “I’m having a break and really enjoying some sleeping in,” she exclaims. It was common to start the day at 5.30am in order to get through hair and makeup. Now I sleep until at least 10am. I love sleeping and eating. I should be a bear!”

The actress is also considering future career moves and indulging in some theatre roles. “The reason I left Shortland Street is because I want to play more characters. You don’t get bored, but you do start looking over the fence because the grass is always greener,” she says. “I think any time you start looking over that fence you need to honour that and think, ‘Okay, what else is there out there?’ “I’d like to do some films and I’d like to learn how to write scripts, which will probably take up a bit of time. I want to be open to moving overseas if that happens, or just be free for a while.”

But viewers may not have seen the last of Libby’s high heels and big hair. “I really want to say I had bad times, but I didn’t. I really, really loved my character,” the ambitious thespian says when asked if she’d ever consider a return to the series. “Never say never,” she laughs coyly.