EastEnders legend Kara Tointon reveals the cheeky trick bosses used to make her do to look sexy
AS EASTENDERS’ “tart with a heart” barmaid, Kara Tointon was nominated for sexiest female at the 2007 British Soap Awards.
But the 38-year-old reckons her appeal was more down to her character, Dawn Swann, than with her.
She once said: “She’s all boobs and short skirts. If I played a nun, I don’t think I’d win.”
The lads’ mags who put her on their covers in the Noughties would surely beg to differ.
This week, The Sun is celebrating the enduring appeal of the gorgeous girls who graced magazine covers in the 2000s.
Keen fans of Kara might remember her starting out on Sky One series Dream Team before playing a pupil alongside a young James Corden in Channel 4 hit Teachers.
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But it was EastEnders that made her a household name.
Kara actually made her Walford debut 11 years before she was cast as Dawn in 2005, playing a school friend of Sonia Fowler in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearance in one episode.
But as feisty Dawn, she got to grips with meaty storylines, including being kidnapped, escaping a burning building and posing as Ian Beale’s wife.
When her character fleeced locals to pay for a boob job, Kara too had to boost her assets — with chicken fillets.
And she was quite the fan. She once confessed: “I come home in them sometimes but it’s so unromantic when you take them out!
“I think men are always a bit disappointed when they meet me and I don’t have boobs like Dawn. People were obsessed with her chest.”
Behind the scenes, she dated two of her co-stars.
She began a relationship with James Alexandrou, 37, who played Martin Fowler, in April 2006.
‘MY MIND DOES 101 THINGS’
When he left the soap the following February, the pair drifted apart and split not long afterwards.
She then dated Joe Swash, 40, who played her onscreen brother Mickey Miller and is now engaged to TV personality Stacey Solomon, 32.
They got together just before he flew out to Australia for I’m A Celebrity, which he won in 2008.
The following Christmas they appeared together in panto Snow White in Bristol, but there were rumours of epic rows, which Kara denied.
She insisted: “We’re very happy together, everything’s going really well, but you’ll have to ask him when we’re getting married.”
In May 2010, they split and Kara fled to Spain with a group of friends to “get her head together”, according to a source.
I think men are always a bit disappointed when they meet me and I don’t have boobs like Dawn. People were obsessed with her chest.
A friend said at the time: “Both she and Joe are really upset about it, but their rows were getting too frequent and they knew they couldn’t make it work any more.”
He later took full responsibility, saying: “It was all down to me and nothing to do with Kara. She genuinely does everything right. I didn’t know what I had until she was gone.”
There is no bad blood though. Kara liked an Instagram picture Joe posted of himself and baby Rex, the first of his two children with Loose Women star Stacey.
Kara also dated James Bourne, from pop group Busted, and she was a bridesmaid for I’m A Celeb winner Giovanna Fletcher when she married McFly’s frontman Tom Fletcher in 2012.
After Joe, Kara put herself on a “man ban”, insisting she would not date anyone for two years. Then along came Strictly’s Russian dancer Artem Chigvintsev.
Together they won the 2010 series and had a four-year romance. Later, she said she believed being partnered with Artem was a deliberate move by the BBC, explaining: “I was single and they put me with the single guy. I was so angry.” But she came round, of course.
She said: “I was determined we wouldn’t get together and then, you’re spending so much time with this person and he was so wonderful.”
In an astonishingly open interview, Joe Swash said he could not bear to watch Kara dancing with a man with “muscles bulging out everywhere” and instead went to bed early with a bottle of red wine to avoid the show.
He added: “She’d done everything to support me so I had to snap out of it. I’m so proud of her.”
Now Kara is happily settled with her fiancé Marius Jensen, with whom she shares sons Frey, three, and Helly, one.
It was all down to me and nothing to do with Kara. She genuinely does everything right. I didn’t know what I had until she was gone.
Joe Swash
As Kara explained, the Norwegian is not part of her showbiz world.
“He’s not an actor, he’s a chiropractor, that’s sort of how we met.”
Their sons are being brought up bilingual, although Kara said she has some catching up to do with her own understanding of the language.
Watching kids’ film Frozen in Norwegian has helped.
The couple had hoped to marry in Marius’s home country in 2020, but Covid put the stoppers on that — and Kara reckons when it now happens, it will be “last minute”.
One thing she does know is that her sister, Hannah, 34, who starred in the Channel 4 comedy The Inbetweeners, will be her bridesmaid.
Sadly, the girls lost their mum Carol in March 2019 after a year-long illness, just a few months after Frey was born.
A year later, Kara revealed the toll her death had taken on her. Explaining she was taking some “time out”, she said: “I haven’t got it in me to be performing as much.”
She turns to painting for relaxation and has come to rely on daily meditation.
She said: “I’m one of those whose mind does 101 things. I’m never really just still, so this forces you to do that, twice a day, for 25 minutes. When you finish, you feel energised.”
A self-confessed foodie, Kara stays in shape by dancing with her boys and loves climbing. She said: “I can get mentally agitated if I don’t exercise. I’m a naturally very active person.”
I’m one of those whose mind does 101 things. I’m never really just still, so this forces you to do that, twice a day, for 25 minutes. When you finish, you feel energised.
She swears by smoothies, packing her meals with vegetables and avoiding processed foods — although she does believe in rewarding herself with the occasional treat.
Aside from EastEnders, Kara appeared in ITV drama Mr Selfridge, along with her sister, played Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion in the West End and was the face of Michelle for George lingerie at Asda.
She also made 2010 BBC Three documentary Don’t Call Me Stupid about her struggles with dyslexia, which she was diagnosed with at seven while at school in Essex.
Kara said: “If I hadn’t been diagnosed at such a young age, I think I could have gone off the rails. I would have been a tearaway and gone down a bad route.”
After the diagnosis, her parents enrolled her in drama classes to boost her confidence. Since the documentary aired, more people have approached Kara about dyslexia than about any of her other onscreen roles.
In lockdown, she and Marius launched a storytelling app, Tell, for people to record stories for younger friends and relatives.
Most recently, Kara played “Kung Fu Kate” Middleton in spoof stage show The Windsors: Endgame, along with her former EastEnders co-star Tracy-Ann Oberman as Camilla and comedian Harry Enfield as Prince Charles.
Last year, she also revealed she would “never say never” to a return to Albert Square. Having been acting since 11, Kara has learned a thing or two about life in the limelight.
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Now, getting back into work again after the pandemic and having her second child — while heading towards her 40th birthday — she said: “I’m one of those people who’s really enjoying getting older.
“I’m starting to feel more comfortable in myself and realising how pointless worrying about the trivial, silly stuff is.”
