Soap star Rita Simons, who is six months into her role as Marie Fielding in Hollyoaks, opens up to OK! exclusively about life after EastEnders, working away from her family and her years-long battle with anxiety, which she has finally managed to get a lid on.
The star has been with her partner Ben Harlow since 2021, following her divorce from her husband of 14 years Theo Silveston – with whom she shares twins Jaimee and Maiya.
And here, she tells OK! how she is feeling twelve months after undergoing major surgery. Explaining that she had suffered from ‘years of anxiety’ before her hysterectomy last year, Rita said: “In all my adult life since I’ve had kids I have had this anxiety – obviously triggered by hormones.
I tried everything. My anxiety is the best it has ever been. Without a shadow of a doubt.” She continued: “I was an anxious kid, but when I had the babies, I started having panic attacks, which I’d never had in my life.They came out of nowhere.
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