Midwife Helen in boob shot shame
JESSIE Wallace has told how phone hackers made her life hell at the height of her EastEnders fame.
The star, who plays feisty Kat on the BBC soap, had her voicemails tapped into and information about her private life was made public in downmarket newspapers.
Speaking for the first time about her ordeal, Jessie, 44, said: “It was really bad back then with the hacking.
“It was really horrible being in the press every day.”
When Jessie’s character wed Alfie Moon, played by Shane Richie, in 2003 their on-screen chemistry made them the biggest stars in soap.
Both were regularly on the front pages.
She said: “It got out of control to the point where I took it on the chin every day.”
After the full extent of the phone hacking scandal emerged, Shane gave evidence at the High Court in a case against Mirror Group Newspapers.
He revealed his friendship with Jessie fell apart when stories leaked about them both.
It got so bad the pair refused to speak to each other for five years.
Jessie said: “We fell out over it. I thought he was selling stories on me and he thought I was selling stories on him.”
Jessie and Shane, 51, were paid “substantial damages” as compensation for the intrusion between 2000 and 2006.
Even a decade on Jessie is still affected by what happened and says she struggles to trust people. She added: “I’m more guarded.” Jessie has been at CALL The Midwife star Helen George was “mortified” when pictures of her boobs were splashed across Britain’s newspapers.
The new series kicked off with Helen’s character, Nurse Trixie, stripping to her bra and knickers.
And the scenes for last Sunday’s opener on BBC1 made headlines which Helen, 31, branded “weird”. She said: “The reaction to EXCLUSIVE EXCLUSIVESTAR REPORTER ED GLEAVE TV Editor the centre of a string of major storylines since joining EastEnders 16 years ago.
And we revealed last weekend that she had risked angering bosses by branding her latest plot “ridiculous”.
In it, Kat learns she gave birth to a son without realising.
Bosses have written Jessie and Shane out of the show so they can star in their own spin-off in which her character searches for the boy.
And last week it emerged they are leaving the show for good. Speaking on This Morning, Shane said they will not be returning to Walford. “We leave on screen next week and that’s it,” he said. Jessie has now let slip she does not watch the show and had no idea Barbara Windsor, 78, is leaving.
Millions of fans saw Peggy Mitchell make a surprise return to the show earlier this month and tell son Phil (Steve McFadden) she has terminal cancer. But in a chat on LBC radio, Jessie was stunned when presenter Steve Allen mentioned it.
And she appeared unhappy about the decision to kill off Charlie Slater over Christmas.
She said: “What do you mean final scenes? No – that means the character’s gone. It’s like what they did to Charlie Slater – the character’s gone.
“I didn’t know. When are they filming these scenes?”
To hear the full interview, tune into In Conversation With Steve Allen on DAB radio channel LBC tonight at 9pm. the show coming back has been great. I just wish there were less pictures of me in my bra in the newspapers. “I was a little mortified. I’m quite a private person so that’s a bit weird.”
Helen is currently taking part in the Strictly Come Dancing tour along with professional partner Aljaz Skorjanec, 25. But she confirmed she would be returning to Call The Midwife for series six which starts filming in the spring. She said: “The show seems to be going from strength to strength which is great considering we are this far in. It can’t carry on forever.”
The period drama about midwives in the East End of London regularly draws ten million viewers.