Martin Kemp has revealed how 'EastEnders' "saved his life" during his battle with depression.
Martin Kemp
The 59-year-old actor - who played Steve Owen from from 1998 to 2002 - joined the BBC soap after having two brain tumours removed, and he was struggling with his mental health as he first stepped onto Albert Square.
He told The Sun newspaper's Fabulous magazine: I can’t tell you how important that was for me at that time.
"Because I’d just come through that whole depression following the brain tumour, and it was the job that I will always look back on and think it saved my life.
“When I went into that show, my confidence and my charisma after what I’d been through was on the floor. I was still suffering depression."
During this time, Martin struggled to "remember lines properly", but the confidence carried by his on-screen alter ego meant he was able to "forget" about everything else.
He added: “My brain wasn’t even working properly. If I wanted to walk one way, I’d walk the other. I couldn’t remember lines properly.
“But the character has this incredible confidence and charisma that kind of gave me my life back.
“I spent three and a half years as him and it made me forget about what I’d been through.”
His character Steve was killed off in a car explosion 19 years ago, and while sensational comebacks can never be ruled out in the world of soaps, he thinks it's unlikely at this point.
Martin admitted he sometimes wishes there was a chance of a return, but he isn't interested at this point in his life.
He explained: "They blew me up, so it’s an impossibility. But there have been times when I wished I’d never got blown up and I was still in one piece so that I could have gone back.
“Would I go back now? I don’t think I would. It’s not for me now.”
Tagged in Martin Kemp