IS THIS JESSIE’S LAST CHANCE?
The actress has been suspended from Eastenders again
She’s an Eastenders legend, but the drama is a little too close to home for Jessie Wallace at the moment, after she was recently suspended from the soap for allegedly being drunk on set. The show’s bosses reportedly held a crisis meeting over the actress’ apparent drunk and rowdy behaviour while filming a scene on a boat on the river Thames. It was decided the 48 year old would be axed for two months to “sort herself out”.
A friend reportedly said, “She knows one more strike and she could be out. Something needs to change – it’s a well-known saying within Eastenders that nobody is bigger than the soap.”
And an insider close to the actress tells heat it’s a problem that has been going on for a while now. “Jessie has been in a bad place for a few months, and sadly it looks as though she’s gone back to her partying lifestyle,” we’re told.
The news comes just weeks after Jessie split from boyfriend Paul
Keepin, who she had been dating for two years. Her heartbreak is said to have contributed to her recent outburst, with one source saying that her failed romances had “chipped away at her over the years. The big question hanging over her is, why does it never work out?”
Our source says that Jessie’s relationship with Paul deeply affected her. “Everything about that experience was toxic, and Jessie ignored warning signs and red flags from the get-go,” we’re told. “It’s triggered a lot of pain connected to her previous relationships, and friends are worried that she could spiral out of control again if she doesn’t take this suspension as a warning.”
The actress has a history of alcohol issues, having been convicted of drink-driving in 2003, and suspended from Eastenders in 2004 for excessive drinking and general bad behaviour. In 2006, she said, “Every time I was drinking, I got into trouble. I guess sometimes I did provoke it. Everywhere I went there was trouble, trouble, trouble.” More recently, in 2018, Jessie was sent home from the British Soap Awards before even making it inside the venue amid claims she arrived at the event already drunk.
And our source says that rehab might be the best idea for the troubled actress. “Her friends think she’s a ticking time bomb and that it was only a matter of time before something like this happened. They’re suggesting she goes to rehab before it gets any worse. She’s already been given a few second chances by the BBC. People are worried this could be her last one.” ■
‘Friends are worried she could spiral out of control’