I’ve loved Holby but it’s time to leave. I’ve had depression and put my love life on hold… now I’m looking for Mr Right
STAR CHIZZY’S PLANS FOR BRIGHT FUTURE
Holby City heart surgeon Mo Effanga got her happy ending last night, heading off for a new life with her on-screen partner and their baby son.
But after five years on the show, actress Chizzy Akudolu – who plays the bubbly, confident medic – hasn’t quite had the same fairytale storyline in her personal life. Behind the scenes, she has battled her own dramas.
She has revealed for the first time that she has suffered from depression and had a cancer scare, and shared her disappointment at not finding her own romantic ending. But now she’s decided it’s about time that all changed.
Chizzy says: “Mo’s awesome. I’ve loved playing her and she’s has been such a large part of my life that it felt like a divorce giving her up.”
“Mo’s character and life’s so like me, the part could have been written especially for me. When I went for the role she was described as a larger-than-life character, unlucky in love, who feels slightly inferior to her sisters. That sums me up,” says the vivacious 43-year-old, who lives in East London.
“I’m the only single person among my friends and family. I’ve had two longterm romances – one of eight years and the last one of six years, which ended in heartbreak, just before I joined Holby.
“I was convinced we were going to marry and live happily ever after. So I’m still looking for Mr Right.
“Mo specialises in transplant surgery and my younger brother has had a kidney transplant, which unfortunately failed, so I really know that process and the emotions involved.
“I’m at least four stone overweight and have issues about that, whereas my two sisters are very slim and toned.”
Her final episode saw her, the father of her child, obstetrician Mr T, played by Ben Hull, and their baby, Hector, leave for a new life in London.
But she admits the demands of working on the series meant that “life outside work was largely put on hold for the five years”. She adds: “I’d leave the house at 5am and not get in until 8pm, and then often be learning lines in the evening.
“At weekends I’d often be so tired I’d just sleep. That probably didn’t help my love life. I never even dated while I was on the series.”
Though she admits the role also gave her an escape from the reality of life away from Holby.
“At times, when I was suffering the depression badly, I hid behind the role of jokey, bubbly, positive Mo, using her as a mask to conceal what I was going through,” says Chizzy, who was on children’s show Jinx before joining Holby City in May 2012.
Just over two years later, in September 2014, she began experiencing the first signs of depression and was diagnosed in December.
“Normally, I’m such a positive, upbeat person that it came as a bolt from the blue. I’m the last person I would have thought would ever get this.
“I felt very low – a mood I couldn’t shrug off – and was constantly
When I was suffering badly, I’d hide behind bubbly, positive Mo CHIZZY ON HOW HER ROLE HELPED HER DEPRESSION
crying or on the verge of tears. I don’t know whether a combination of a chemical imbalance and a tough year combined to tip me over. I’d had a painful leg injury, gynaecological problems as well as a cancer scare.
“I had a lump in my breast which, thankfully, turned out to be benign.
“Although I never wanted to seriously harm myself, I did feel so desperate one day when I was driving along a motorway I had to resist the urge to veer off into the lay-by and have a crash. Even having that thought really scared me but it was just because I
wanted to end up in hospital so I could sleep and rest and step off the conveyor belt of work and life.”
Chizzy reached crisis point in December 2014.
She says: “One day I couldn’t even put on my scrubs costume or leave my dressing room because I was crying so much and hyperventilating. I thought, ‘What the hell is happening to me?’
“Everyone on Holby was incredibly supportive and kind. The duty doctor signed me off for a couple of days and put me on antidepressants, which I still take. I never stopped working, although at one point I worried I might have to quit. It took about six months for me to start feeling better.
“Nowadays, I only get a low day every so often and I’ve had therapy, which helped.” Explaining her brave decision to be open about her illness, she says: “I want to talk about it so we’ll get rid of the stigma around it.
“I hope I’ve conquered the demon depression – that would be wonderful.
“But if I haven’t, I’ll be able to cope with it when it comes back. I’m prepared now.”
And Chizzy appears to have nothing but optimism about the future now.
“I wouldn’t change what’s happened to me in any way because it’s taught me so much about myself,” she says.
“Now I just want to open the door to a new life – to sort out my personal life, lose weight, hopefully find my soul mate and get new work.
“Although I think I’m too old to have a baby, I may consider adopting a child – even if I’m on my own – when I’m more settled again in my career. There’s so much to look forward to.”
Chizzy is no stranger to success, either. Over the years she has been nominated for many awards for her portrayal of Mo. She won best newcomer at the Black International Film Festival and Music Video and Screen Awards, and was nominated in the same category at the National Television Awards.
And leaving Mo and Holby City behind was not a decision she took lightly.
She explains: “I can’t believe I won’t be walking those wards with my stethoscope, and in theatre stitching people up any more. But I felt it was time for a new era for me and my career, and the last two and a half years have been a challenging rollercoaster for me.”
Chizzy told Ben, who plays her on-screen on/off partner, of her decision to leave Holby before she told the programme makers last August. She says: “I told him because I knew it meant he might have to leave too, as our storylines are so linked, but he was so supportive.
“He said, ‘Be brave, do the right thing for you.’ He understood.
“The producers were shocked but very understanding and the door’s been left open for me to return if I want to one day. It was the right time to leave because, as an actor, you can’t stay in the same place forever.
“I didn’t want to get typecast and I didn’t want to end up hating what I’ve loved so much.
“I want to do more comedy, which is where I started, and drama, and be more than just Mo from Holby.”
With such a positive attitude, you can only imagine this will be just the start of her own happily ever after.
I want to lose weight, find my soulmate and maybe adopt a kid CHIZZY ON HER PLANS FOR HER PERSONAL LIFE