EastEnders’ Jessie Wallace suspended from soap for two months after ‘boozing on set’
ACTRESS Jessie Wallace has been suspended from EastEnders after allegedly boozing on set.
The 48-year-old Kat Slater actress is said to have been temporarily written out of upcoming plots on the show.
A source told The Sun it appeared that troubled Jessie seemed drunk on set.
Bosses held a crisis meeting and decided she would be axed from the show for two months to “sort herself out”.
Jessie had already filmed scenes for Albert Square’s explosive 35th anniversary special, so writers are coming up with a storyline to explain Kat’s temporary departure.
It comes just weeks after The Sun exclusively revealed Jessie had split with greengrocer boyfriend Paul Keepin after two years.
The pair broke up just before Christmas and a source said at the time: “She is moving on and wants the New Year to be a fresh start when she will focus on work.”
Jessie has been one of the biggest stars in soapland for years, joining the drama for her first stint as Alfie Moon's girlfriend between 2000 and 2005.
But her party lifestyle has landed her in trouble. In the mid-2000s she was exposed for using the drug ketamine.
She was suspended from the show for bad behaviour and threatened with the axe.
The mum of one was also convicted of drink-driving in 2003 and attended counselling sessions.
And in 2018, she was sent home from the British Soap Awards by bosses amid claims she turned up to the event drunk.
In March that year, worried fans spotted her collapsed drunk in the street in London’s Soho.
Jessie reprised the role of Kat - without Alfie this time - once more in 2018.
She originally trained as a make-up artist and worked as a barmaid before becoming an actress.