I was so skint after leaving EastEnders I had to sell my house, says Jacqueline Jossa

JACQUELINE Jossa has revealed she was left "struggling with money" after leaving EastEnders and had to sell her house.

However, in a brutally honest interview, the mum-of-two added defiantly: "I'm not ashamed."

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Chatting to reality stars Sam and Billie Faiers on their podcast, , Jac was open about her cash woes after leaving the soap.

Jac, 30, starred as Lauren Branning in the BBC series before her exit in 2018.

She said: " You’re right about the hustle. I was on EastEnders for eight years where you got a set pay cheque every week. It was a set pay cheque and I didn’t have to do anything else. It was my comfort blanket, it was what I knew. Then it just wasn’t.

"There’s no such thing for me as maternity pay, so when I had kids I had to leave and I had to do magazine covers to make money to feed my kids."

Jacqueline explained: "Once you’re gone, when you’re not on the show, you don’t have money. Done! You’re not paid anything else.

"‘I’m going to have to do like a shoot.’ People go, ‘Why are you selling your soul?’ I’m feeding my kids. That’s the difference. I’m not embarrassed, I’m not ashamed.

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"There’s been times where I haven’t had money. Before I went in the jungle I was struggling with money. I had to sell my house.

"And then I went in the jungle and had amazing opportunities, so I would never ever ever look at somebody and say, ‘They're not hustling enough’. You have to do it."

Jacqueline won I'm A Celebrity in 2019 and since then has struck money-making deals with In The Style and Hot Diamonds amongst other brands.

The actress shares daughters Ella, eight, and Mia, four with Towie star Dan Osborne.

They moved into their "forever home" in 2021 - which Jac also described as a "fresh start" for the family.

Before that, home was a £1m mansion in Essex with a hot tub and huge eight-seater sofa.

CHANGES

During the 2020 lockdown, rumours of marriage troubles hit which led to Jac moving out of their former home for a short time.

She told The Sun: “It felt like everybody wanted to watch me fall apart.

“I kept it in for a while, but then over lockdown it was a really good time and place for Daniel and I to go through everything — an opportunity for us to talk through it all. For me, this meant turning to therapy.

“And because of that, I couldn’t be in the same house as Dan. There was no big argument or bust-up, and there were no other girls. Moving out was literally how I had to deal with it.

“It was like when you wake up after a bad dream about someone — you need some space. That’s what it was like with therapy."

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