EastEnders actress Linda Carter’s husband, soap opera and fear of the age gap

Kellie Bright isn’t the only EastEnders star in the family – as her husband has been to Albert Square on a number of occasions.

The famous actress finally returns to our screens tonight, after taking the last few months of maternity leave after giving birth to her third child.

In typical EastEnders fashion, her character Linda Carter makes a surprise return to the BBC for Tina Carter’s funeral but ends up causing chaos while drunk.

While Kellie has played Linda since 2013, it’s actually not her first EastEnders role as she appeared as a bridesmaid at Lofty and Michelle’s wedding in 1986 when she was just 10 years old.

The star of the serious dance, who has also appeared in Ali G Indahouse, The Upper Hand and Bad Girls, is married to actor Paul Stocker.

Paul actually appeared in EastEnders in 2016 as DS Howard South, a police detective who questioned the murderous kid Bobby Beale about the murder of his sister Lucy.

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Warning viewers that her husband was coming, Kellie tweeted: “For all of you [EastEnders] fans, specially watch my 4 husbands in tonight’s episode!!

“To you DS Howard South. Sadly Linda and Howard never met,” she added with a sad face emoji and a broken heart emoji.

But that wasn’t the only time Paul was seen on the soap, as fans were stunned to see him last August during a robbery at the Queen Vic.

At first, viewers were confused by the lack of social distancing when a bandit grabbed the pregnant Linda and covered her mouth with his hand.

But some eagle-eyed fans recognized who the real attacker was when the credits went live, with one tweeting: “I think I recognized the thug who attacked Linda, that’s Paul Stoker, husband of Kellie Bright!”

This isn’t Paul’s only big role, as he appeared with three different characters in Casualty in 2005, 2012 and 2014.

He has also been in Doctors twice and starred in the 2007 hit film Atonement, starring Keira Knightley and James McAvoy, as a crying soldier.

Kellie and Paul first met when they co-starred in a play when he was 24 and he was 31.

The EastEnders actress has previously discussed her concerns about their 7-year age gap, admitting that she fears Paul will “frustrate” her if the age difference affects the plans. their family.

She told OK! Magazine: “The reality has started. I’m 31 and want to have kids, and Paul is 24 and not at the time. I feel that’s not fair to Paul – I’m worried he’ll resent me. “

However, they continued to have a happy relationship and Kellie gave birth to their first son, Freddy, in December 2011.

The couple married in July 2014 in the small village of Trelill, Cornwall at a famous star.

Co-star Danny Dyer, who plays Mick, Kellie’s on-screen husband, was present at the celebration with his wife Joanne Mas.

Maddy Hill and Sam Strike, who played her children Nancy and Johnny in the soap, also attended, along with then EastEnders Executive Producer Dominic Treadwell-Collins.

Kellie had their second son, Gene, in November 2016 and thanks her appearance on Seriously Coming with professional partner Kevin Clifton for help.

While Paul explained it “made us age”, Kellie added: “I think Seriously helped us because it took the focus off of trying and the fact that I’m almost 40. “

Actress Linda Carter did not expect her labor to happen so quickly and almost gave birth in a car.

She said: “I was very uncomfortable sitting in the car and the contractions came pretty quickly at the time.

“But of course it was after school so we got stuck in traffic. When we got to the hospital a midwife could see that I was in labor and took me straight to the delivery room. About 20 minutes after we arrived at our due time. 9 am, my water broke!”

Kellie knows she doesn’t want to stop at two kids, tells OK! after giving birth Gene: “I said right in the delivery room that I want another baby!

“I don’t feel ready to close the door on motherhood yet. But if we have one more, it won’t be immediate.”

After undergoing IVF, Kellie announced that she was expecting their third child and gave birth to baby boy Rudy last September.

Kellie hit back at those who cruelly criticized her for giving birth to her third child at the age of 45, saying that if she was “a man” then “nobody can have a single eyelid”.

“Don’t forget my husband is a lot younger than me,” she explained to OK! magazine.

“He’s in his 30s, so he’s still running after the kids, which is great. We met when I was 31 and I didn’t want to jump straight into having kids.”

Kellie became pregnant naturally with Freddy but struggled a second time and underwent IVF to get Gene pregnant.

The three extra embryos were frozen for later potential use and, following unsuccessful attempts to conceive two of them, her dream came true when she conceived her “miracle”.

Last October, she told The Mirror: “I know it’s not for everyone and there are millions of women my age thinking, ‘God, I wouldn’t want to go back to that.’ But for me, I never felt fulfilled with having children. It’s something really special and unique.

“I really feel very fortunate to have experienced it again. But now, 100%, I feel complete family.”

Kellie has confessed she’s “a bit apprehensive” about coming back EastEnders – with Linda finding out about her estranged husband, Mick is having a romance with Janine Butcher.

She returned to the Square ahead of Tina Carter’s funeral and previewed filming photos showing her smashing bottles while battling her alcohol addiction.

“Coming back after a breakup is always a little scary. At first I was certainly a little nervous but quickly felt comfortable being with the people I love, who are like my family.” , she said.

“The slight apprehension about going back disappeared quickly and I can really say I’d love to get back to work.”

Linda is still battling her drinking demon and Kellie believes she needs to stop for good before it’s too late.

When asked what advice she would give her character, she explained: “What I want to say to her is look, the first thing you need to do is stop drinking because you can’t fix it. cure anything else while you are still drinking.

“Everything that happens will bubble up and turn into all sorts of dramas while you’re drinking because you’re going to make it that way. So her drinking really and really needs to be addressed. before anything else.”

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