EastEnders’ Tamzin Outhwaite reveals she’s selling her stuff at car boot sales to pay mortgage as acting work dries up
EASTENDERS' Tamzin Outhwaite has revealed that she is selling her possessions at car boot sales and online to pay her mortgage as acting work dries up.
The 50-year-old star shot to fame playing Mel in the BBC One soap in 1998, returning to Walford on and off over the years.
However, the character was killed off in November 2019 - and the actress has confessed that work has taken a hit due to the coronavirus pandemic.
She said: "I'm in a situation at the moment where I'm starting to sell things. I'm about to set up a website for things that I've either created or bought and don't need anymore. Home things, clothing.
"I just think this is going to be probably how I'm going to pay my mortgage and exist for a while, until our industry comes back.
"I'm not snobby or proud about what I do. I love a car boot sale, but everything is online. I'm thinking of ways of: 'How do I do that now?' I'm not proud. 'Oh god, influencers make money, how do you go about doing that?'
"I'm working out ways I could maybe do that. I'm in a decent situation. I can put my career on hold for a while and we will still eat."
Tamzin added to the podcast that her experience within the industry this year has put her off advising her children to go into acting in the future.
The blonde beauty is mum to 12-year-old Florence and eight-year-old Marnie, and explained: "I worry about my own children, how their future is going to be because at the moment if one of them did want to act I would say: 'No. Don't go there at the moment.'
"I worry about my theatre community that I grew up and trained with, the kids that are younger than me who are just coming out of college who have all these skills, and their skills won't be sharpened and polished for a while.
"I worry about my musical theatre family. Mates that I know are delivery driving, and I think: 'Good on you.' We're all trying to earn our living at the moment, but I don't know how long we can sustain it as a community.
"The joy and the passion and everything I get from it is still there nut I can't look on Twitter or Instagram and see a choir singing without crying at the moment.
"It will come back and it will come back bigger and better, but there will be a period where it's going to be sad."
Many actors have taken to picking up other jobs during the pandemic, which has seen live theatre ground to a halt - while TV and film production faces huge health and safety obstacles.
Earlier this week, ex-Emmerdale star Bill Ward revealed that he’s now a Tesco delivery driver, and Doc Martin's Stewart Wright has become a Deliveroo rider in order to support his family.