I don’t want to move to Hollywood .. I have got everything that I need right here
STAR SNUBS GLITZ OF LA
AFTER making it big as Albert Square’s fiery Mel Healy, Tamzin Outhwaite could have ditched London and headed to Hollywood.
But the Ilford-born actress admits she is too attached to the comforts of life in her home city.
Asked if a move stateside is imminent, she tells the Sunday People: “No. I’ve got everything I need right here, so I wouldn’t see a reason to do that.”
Tamzin lives with partner Tom Child, 30, and her daughters Florence, 13, and Marnie, nine, by ex-husband Tom Ellis.
Friday saw her return to cinema screens in UK thriller Bull. And on the same day, the ex-eastenders star turned 51 – but she says she is winding back the clock after hitting 50 in lockdown.
Party
“I’m still saying I’m 49 because I didn’t manage to properly celebrate my 50th,” she says. “So this year I’ll be classing it as my 50th.
“I was planning on a big party but I don’t think I will now – but I know I’ll do something.”
Seen most recently in four-part BBC thriller Ridley Road, she puts her age-defying appearance down to laughter, yoga and Pilates.
Tamzin says: “Laughing a lot is quite big. There’s no secret.
“Feeling young is just all in your spirit, isn’t it? And I’m just a massive kid, so that must be what it is.
“My weight goes up and down, I try not to get on the scales. I had a bit of an injury recently, so I wasn’t exercising a lot – I cracked a rib. It was only painful at the beginning but it’s fine now.
“Sometimes I think I’m being really fit but I don’t give myself a hard time.
“I’m not a keen gym bunny. I go through phases where I’m active but mostly I get my exercise from either yoga, Pilates or walking.”
One Hollywood trend she won’t be rushing out to copy is plastic surgery.
“Not unless it was medically necessary,” she says. “Years ago, when I was young,
I used to think someone in their 50s was in a rocking chair, knitting. Now it’s very different being in your 50s. I’m having a lovely time… but it’s very early days.”
Tamzin starred as Mel on Eastenders from 1998 to 2002, returning in 2018 to find herself caught up with the Mitchells and Brannings – before walking into the path of a truck two years later. Has she been glued to the BBC soap since?
“I haven’t watched it since a big lorry hit me and killed me,” she reveals. “It’s hard to watch once you’ve been in it. But I saw that episode.”
With I’m A Celebrity coming back this month, Tamzin’s name has once again been linked to the show. But she insists:
“No – no truth at all. I like the idea of being in Australia, in the jungle with a group of friends and having to do challenges.
“I’m not sure if I’m up for the whole thing. But I never say never. I wouldn’t be scared to get my hands dirty and I’d eat everything
– I’d be all right with the eating challenges.”
Despite her success, Tamzin feels there is a lack of roles for women in their
50s. She says: “Parts definitely get fewer as you get older. I like a female-led comedy drama as I feel represented.”
During lockdown, she joined pals
More kids? Gosh, no. I’d not go back to that
stage now
Denise Welch and Angela Griffin in a self-filmed venture about the menopause, called Dun Breedin’, which was released on Youtube. Tamzin says: “It showed you can get a lot of humour out of the way women are feeling during that time. Women of a certain age is something I want to watch, especially if they’re funny and open and you can identify.”
Explaining that she has started HRT, she says of the menopause: “I don’t know what stage I’m at. There’s a lot to be said for being preventative as well, so I’m not struggling or really suffering – but the insomnia has been bad at times. Apart
from that, it’s not as bad
as some people say. And yes, we do need to talk about it.”
She seems very loved up with filmmaker Tom, who she met in a yoga class, and says lockdown brought them closer. The relationship attracts a lot of attention due to the age gap – but she says she does not even notice.
“I would say younger or older – whoever, it’s not even about the man being younger – just don’t let age be an issue,” she says. “It’s about a connection with someone, whether that’s a man or a woman, younger or older. I don’t see it as an issue any more.”
But despite Naomi Campbell recently becoming a mother at 50, Tamzin swears off the idea of another child, saying: “Gosh!
No, I wouldn’t go back to that stage now. They’re nine and 13, so I’ve all the baby stages behind me. I can’t imagine going back to that.”
And she is in no rush to marry either, insisting: “We’re having a nice time as we are.”
So, what other roles would she like to get her teeth into next?
“I always watch Motherland and laugh and think I’d love to do that. And I love Ghosts for its wonderful and theatrical nonsense – it’s one of the best sitcoms ever. So, something that makes me laugh…i think I’d love to be in that. It would be a lovely quality, to make people laugh.”
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