long way to love
Inside EastEnders star Michelle Collins’ off-screen heartache ahead of her bombshell Christmas episode
Michelle did not find The One until she was in her 50s
WHILST her character Cindy Beale has never been lucky in love - actress Michelle Collins has had a similarly dramatic love life.
On the BBC soap opera, fans have seen how Cindy has had a rollercoaster year in love with her affair with Junior Knight taking centre stage.
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With it all set to be exposed during a dramatic Christmas Day visit to Walford, actress Michelle has confessed that fans will "hate" her character after the scenes.
Away from the screen, Michelle has had an up-and-down love life herself.
The star has been open about her struggles with love and admitted that she was likely looking and focusing on the "wrong" things before finally settling down in her 50s.
Michelle had told Kaye Adams on her How To Be 60 podcast about her romantic history: "I just seem to be one of these people who it's taken me a long time to find myself.
"I was maybe looking in the wrong places, looking for the wrong people."
Michelle further said of her complex love life: "My life was a bit dramatic I suppose. I had a complicated love life.
"I worked a lot, but my personal life wasn't always great. I probably never met the right man in my life and I was a very strong woman."
In the 90s, Michelle found love after cementing her fame as one of Britain's leading soap stars.
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In the 90s, she began romancing Fabrizio Tassalini.
The couple went on to welcome their daughter - Maia Rose - in 1996 but their romance did not last with the couple splitting just two years later in 1998.
Watch moment EastEnders' evil Cindy Beale sinks to a new low and THREATENS Kojo in desperate move to keep Junior secret
Michelle and Fabrizio remained close for the sake of their daughter and raised her together.
Sadly, Fabrizio tragically died in October 2014 at his home in Australia after a heart-wrenching battle with liver cancer.
Reflecting on their time together and the struggles she endured after their split, the Cindy Beale star told about dealing with the hardship of the break-up and what it had led her to do.
She told the publication: "I felt like I’d been tipped over the edge.
"I felt like a failure and found myself sinking lower and lower as the days went on, until in the end I couldn’t seem to pull myself out of the hole.
"I remember swallowing some pills. There was no definite plan or explicit decision behind my actions. It just happened."
EastEnders Christmas and New Year schedule
Monday December 23 - 6am iPlayer & 7:30pm BBC One
Tuesday December 24 - 6am iPlayer & 7:45pm BBC One
Christmas Day - 7:30pm & 10:35pm BBC One & iPlayer
Boxing Day - 8:30pm BBC One & iPlayer
Monday December 30 - 6am iPlayer & 7:30pm BBC One
Tuesday December 31 - 6am iPlayer & 7:30pm BBC One
New Year's Day - 10pm BBC One & iPlayer
Thursday January 2 - 6am iPlayer & 7:30pm BBC One
Michelle was admitted to a hospital in Cyprus after the incident which took place as she filmed TV show Sunburn.
Covering up what had occurred, she told BBC chiefs that sunstroke was the cause of her ill health.
It wasn't until 2012 when Michelle finally found The One after a psychic premonition predicted that it would not be until Michelle turned 50 that she would find true love.
Michelle began romancing Mike Davidson, a fashion retailer that year before eventually marrying a decade later in 2022.
Speaking about how her romance with Mike came to be, Michelle previously said: "It's a case of somebody I can do nothing with.
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"I can just be me and not worry that he thinks I'm boring, or that I think he's boring.
"Somebody to be bored with and to do nothing with. I think that is a true partner."
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