Leading lady cheated, stifling urge (7)
I believe the answer is:
doyenne
'leading lady' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'cheated stifling urge' is the wordplay.
'cheated' becomes 'done'.
'stifling' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'urge' becomes 'yen' (yen can mean a craving for something).
'done' going around 'yen' is 'DOYENNE'.
(Other definitions for doyenne that I've seen before include "Female most respected in a particular field" , "Woman who is senior member of her profession" , "Prominent female in her field" , "Leading lady" , "Senior person" .)