EastEnders actress June Brown admits being in EastEnders is what keeps her alive, as she reveals how a Second World War spy broke her heart
The soap legend has also revealed that she was 'upset' about her character Dot going blind and didn't want to lose her
EASTENDERS actress June Brown has admitted that being in EastEnders is what is keeping her alive.
The soap legend, who is celebrating her 90th birthday next week, has also revealed that she is "upset" that her character Dot is going blind.
June was appearing on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs when she made the comments.
She said: “I haven’t got very much energy now but I find that when I get on set it comes.
“It keeps me alive. It is the reason to get up in the morning.
“I think that’s the reason why people get lonely and ill when they get older. I think that loneliness and having no motivation kills you.”
Speaking about not wanting her character to age too quickly, she said: "I feel that Dot - she's very quick and quick moving and quick speaking - and I do not want to become a dependant old woman, or otherwise my character's gone, and I might as well not be there."
The BAFTA nominated actress added: "I can run as Dot, I find myself running across the road, and I don't want to lose my character.
"It's like being in a wheelchair or something, and not ever getting out of it."
Dot first confessed to her friend Patrick Trueman that she feared she was going blind in October.
June, who was awarded an MBE in 2008 for her services to drama and charity, also said that she doesn't want to retire because she thinks stopping working is what "kills you".
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Elsewhere, June also spoke about being left heartbroken by a young Belgian named Ralph Latimer when she was just a teenager.
She described how her parents took Ralph in to their home when he escaped his country.
"He had a very good voice and we used to stand around the piano and mother would play, and he’d sing and she’d sing and we’d all sing, and I was very much in love with him. And he told his mother that he was going to marry me when I was 16," she revealed.
"But in that time they decided that they would use him in a better fashion and he was dropped into Belgium to join The Underground.
"He became a spy. When he came back, well he was involved with somebody else and he married her. So that was very sad."
June eventually wrote to him and travelled to London to meet him, but he never showed up, with his mum planning to meet her instead.
However she left before she got there.
June added: "Well I suppose it did break my heart. I was stunned when I realised what had happened. What happened was that we were always writing to each other and the letters just stopped and I didn’t know what had happened."
Desert Island Discs is on BBC Radio 4 at 11.15am.
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