Former 'EastEnders' star Rita Simons has revealed her daughter is following in her mother’s acting footsteps and has landed a role in a top secret new drama.
Rita Simons
The 44-year-old actress has revealed her 15-year-old daughter Maiya, who had a cochlear implant when she was just seven to overcome deafness, has been cast in her first major TV role and she is so proud of her because the part has nothing to do with her disability.
Speaking on the 'Keep Calm and Kerry On' podcast, she said: “My baby - who is 15 - Maiya is deaf but she has a cochlear implant. She is almost profoundly deaf, but she’s been at drama school. Because we implanted her it means her speech is incredible, she loves her implant, she can hear when it’s turned on. I can’t say too much but I am going with her to isolate somewhere out of the country in a couple of weeks where she is going to start filming a lead role in quite a big drama. She is there for 12 weeks on her own, I’m going to settle her in. She’s amazing and the fact that she’s deaf has nothing to do with the casting.”
Rita – who has twin girls, Maiya and Jamiee – also revealed that Maiya thanks her all the time for agreeing to her getting the cochlear implant because it has transformed her life and given her the opportunity to act.
Rita - who played Roxy Mitchell for 10 years on the BBC One soap – said: "She got her implant when she was seven, she was born partially deaf but became more and more deaf as she got older. By the time she was seven one of her ears was profound, and one still has a tiny bit but we use a hearing aide in that ear. So we implanted her and she says to me all the time, ‘Thank you mummy for doing that.’ It just goes to show that she is now speaking beautifully so much so that she has just been cast as a lead in a drama. I am super-proud mummy of the year.”
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