‘Wanted to hurt myself’ EastEnders' Rita Simons on depression battle after marriage ended

express.co.uk:

EastEnders actress Rita Simons candidly opened up about her marriage breakdown in a recent interview.The Roxy Mitchell star split from her husband of 14 years, Theo Silveston, in 2018.Rita, 44, explained how she felt she had reached a “crisis point” after the end of their marriage.The beloved actress candidly spoke about how she fought depression following their split.Speaking in an interview published yesterday: “It was a deep sadness, I would say a depression.“I couldn’t see the wood for the trees.”Rita went on to share how she felt that she didn’t want to work but had to, so threw herself into everything.But, the actress explained this led her to become “very ill” and she “lost a lot of weight.”She then shared to The Sun how she reached a crisis point while working on the play The House On Cold Hill in 2019.She said: “There were some stairs on the set that I came on stage on, quite high at the top.“And I thought I could just chuck myself down.

I didn’t want to die.“I just wanted to hurt myself enough to go to hospital and have someone look after me.That was scary.“There was my anxiety, depression and OCD, but in the centre of all of that there was a really sad divorce happening.”Rita and Theo have two children together, twin daughters Jaimee and Maiya.They divorced in 2020, following their initial split in 2018.However, now Rita has shared how lockdown helped her slow down and take stock.The actor also admitted she’s fallen in love again with actor Ben Harlow.The pair met when starring in Legally Blonde: The Musical in 2017.However, they only started dating in 2020 after reconnecting.Rita first became a household name in 2007 when she joined EastEnders.Her beloved character Roxy was part of the show until her dramatic.