I’ve been in therapy for 14 years, says EastEnders’s Jacqueline Jossa as she opens up on coping with life’s stresses
Jacqueline returned to Walford on New Year’s Day, five years after quitting the soap
SHE was an award-winning soap star in her teens, became Queen of the Jungle in 2019 and is the mum of two little girls.
But today, EastEnders actress Jacqueline Jossa — who has just returned to the BBC soap in an explosive storyline — reveals that for all that time she endured crippling anxiety and has been in therapy for 14 years.
On the surface her celebrity lifestyle may appear the pinnacle of glamour and success.
But privately she has faced many challenges, including claims her husband Dan Osborne has been unfaithful.
In an exclusive interview Jacqueline, 31, said: “I think everyone should have therapy. It’s absolutely amazing.
“I’ve had it since I was 17. You want someone to talk to . . . so I’ve always been really open to it and it’s always been part of my life. I dip in and out of it whenever I need to.”
It was less than a year after the couple married in 2017 that Towie regular Dan was accused of cheating with former Love Island contestant Gabby Allen, 31.
The rumours came after they were seen getting cosy on a work trip in Marbella, Spain.
Although Dan, 32, denied the claims, he moved out of the marital home.
The couple reconciled but it was short lived as Dan was accused of having a threesome in 2019 with his Celebrity Big Brother co-stars Natalie Nunn, 39, and Chloe Ayling, 25.
‘I like impostor syndrome’
Dan issued a public apology to his heartbroken wife, saying he had made “mistakes” and that while some parts of the story were true, others were “very untrue”.
Techniques the Albert Square favourite learned in therapy have helped her cope with life’s stresses.
The actress, who plays Lauren Branning, said: “I get anxiety.
“Sometimes I’ll be in my bath and think, ‘Isn’t it crazy that I’m in a bath, in a bathroom, in a house, on a street, in a town, in a city, in a country, with water around me then I’m on a planet and then I’m in a galaxy’.
“I worry about whether I said the wrong thing to blah blah this morning.
“That’s probably not even thought of in their head. You worry about things that probably don’t even exist in the real world.
“And I realise that I’m just a dot on this planet and there’s so much more and that always brings me back down.
“It just makes me think, ‘This too shall pass, you’re going to be OK’.
“That really helps me. Because I feel like we’re the main characters of our life and our story but we’re not the main characters in the world. We’re not in a movie.
“We don’t have to worry too much about what everyone else is thinking about that one little thing that we did that probably hasn’t crossed anyone else’s mind.
“You can learn from it. You can move on from it and then you can let it wash away.”
Jacqueline returned to Walford on New Year’s Day, five years after quitting the soap.
Shocked viewers this week saw Lauren, who had been living in Paris with her son Louie, arrested for drug smuggling by French police as she tried to board a Eurostar for London.
TV insiders say she is set to clash with soap villain Cindy Beale, who returned to the drama last year.
Despite Jacqueline’s career success — and a new campaign with Duracell batteries — she still constantly questions if she is good enough.
She said: “I always have impostor syndrome in every single thing I do.
“Even — and I know this sounds ridiculous — when you get a campaign with Duracell.
“It’s crazy, but they’re such an iconic, famous brand, and I always get that feeling of, ‘I can’t believe I’m working with them’.
“I live in impostor syndrome. That’s where my spirit and I live. I think it keeps me grounded. I like living in impostor syndrome.
“I’ll definitely be watching EastEnders and feeling exactly the same.”
Despite the mental health struggles of a life lived in the limelight, Jacqueline is loving being back with her talented and supportive soap buddies.
She added: “I’ve been in this about 14 years now, which is a really, really long time.
“Having great people around me, working with great people, being back in that place where I work with amazing people, is really helpful.
“Being around incredible human beings that just know their s**t, with no ego, is very, very important . . . and there’s probably been moments where I have cared a little bit too much what strangers think.”
Jacqueline, who won the 19th series of I’m A Celebrity, says she now concentrates on happiness at home with Dan and their daughters Ella, eight, and Mia, four.
Asked how her happiness levels are now, she said: “I’m very close to ten out of ten. I feel like I’m on a par with being Queen Of The Jungle.
“I’m doing what I love again being back on EastEnders. I’m really happy and just focusing on what’s important, my family.”
The straight-talking actress admits she and Dan have had their share of ups and downs but says their marriage is now in a good place.
At Christmas she bought him his favourite gift — Lego.
‘I just want to be better’
“I get him Lego every year,” she said with a laugh. “Yes, my 32-year-old husband. He has a Lego room. Full of Lego. A whole room. Honestly.
“There’s a lot of things about Dan you wouldn’t expect and that’s one of them.
“Daniel has the whole Harry Potter house in Lego, the whole street Diagon Alley with all the shops in it.
“When you look at it, it’s really quite cool and it’s hours and hours of work to build it. He absolutely loves it.
“It’s his man cave. He’s got some football boots in there and Lego.
“The kids can absolutely not touch it. They can look but they can’t touch.
“He’d know if anyone moved anything. Honestly, I don’t know what would happen.
“We joke about it all the time and I say to him, ‘I can’t believe in all the times we’ve argued, I’ve never smashed up your Lego’, and he’ll say, ‘If you ever touch my Lego . . . ’.”
The actress, who has a range with online fashion brand In The Style, said Dan is much better at present buying, insisting: “He’s really good. Whatever I need, maybe new pyjamas or whatever, I leave it up to him as he’s much better at that sort of thing.
“He’s actually better at choosing clothes than I am, which is quite bad as I have my own clothes range. But he is really stylish.”
Jacqueline, who fronted Durcell’s festive fears campaign before Christmas, hopes to stay on her positive path.
She said: “I used to try to do New Year’s resolutions but I think it’s b******s now. I don’t know why we do that whole, ‘New Year, new me, thing’.
“I’ll figure it out. We’re all just figuring it out. I’m not going to put a time frame on it. I just want to be better and do better.
“I don’t really have any bucket list ambitions. I just want to be happy.”
