EastEnders' Kellie Bright's life away from Linda Carter with actor husband and three kids

12 Dec 2024, 13:57 by Michelle Townsend · RSVP Live

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EastEnders character Linda Carter has hit rock bottom this week.

In devastating scenes on the BBC soap, a traumatised Linda has continued to struggle with her alcohol addiction and has pushed her family and friends away.

Since losing beloved husband Mick on Christmas Day in 2022, Linda has been unable to cope. Last Christmas, she murdered Keanu Taylor in an act of self-defence as he was attacking her best friend, Sharon Watts.

And now, she looks set to face another heartbreaking festive period as the alcoholic has turned all of her loved ones against her as she refuses to stop drinking.

Actress Kellie Bright became an instant fan favourite with EastEnders fans when she joined as Linda in 2013. Two years after that, she gained another legion of fans when she reached the final of Strictly Come Dancing with pro partner Kevin Clifton.

While Linda's life has been defined by heartbreak, away from the cameras Kellie is happily married to husband of 10 years Paul Stocker, who also works as an actor.

Paul and Kellie first met when she was 31 and he was 24. They married in 2014 and went on to welcome children Freddie, 12, Gene, six, and Rudy, three, via IVF.

Kellie has spoken candidly about becoming a mum later than she had planned due to fertility struggles.

Kellie Bright poses for OK! Magazine(Image: OK! Magazine)

After welcoming Rudy, the actress told OK!: "First of all, if I was a man having my third child at 44, no one would bat an eyelid.

"Don't forget my husband is much younger than me. He's in his thirties, so he's still running around after the kids, which is great. We met when I was 31 and I didn't want to jump straight into having kids."

Kellie added that in a perfect world she would have "finished having babies at the end of her thirties". "But who gets to pick their life like that?" she continued. "We had fertility struggles we didn't expect and had to just deal with it."

While Kellie is a household name in soapland, Paul has also carved out a successful acting career.

He starred in films Atonement and Mark of Cain in 2007 and has also appeared in various theatre shows, such as The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time and Six Degrees of Separation.

In 2021, Paul got to star alongside Kellie in a scene in EastEnders. The scene saw Linda get attacked while the Queen Vic was being robbed. Because of Covid restrictions, Kellie couldn't get close to her co-stars, so bosses worked around this by hiring her husband to play her attacker.

If you've been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, freephone1800 459 459or email helpline@hse.ie.