EastEnders: Ronnie and Roxy Mitchell die in a swimming pool

Rita Simons starred in the BBC soap EastEnders for over 10 years as Roxy Mitchell before she was eventually killed off. She recently took part in the fifth season of BBC Two’s Pilgrimage series where she and six celebrities travelled along the northern route of the Fatima Way in Portugal. When touching on whether she got emotional during her time, Rita opened up on her “rough” few years.

The seven celebrities who had taken on the challenge were Su Pollard, Bobby Seagull, Vicky Pattison, Rita Simons, Nabil Abdulrashid, Shane Lynch and Millie Knight.

The stars who all had differing faiths and beliefs headed off on a personal journey with many having emotional moments through their journey.

Talking to Express.co.uk and other press, she explained: “My answer is a weird one because it’s no secret that I have been through a rough few years.

“Divorce, blah blah blah, a couple of breakdowns, so by the time I did this show I was in the most wonderful place outside of work that I have been in years.

“When I said it on the show, I don’t know if it was that or I am just getting older, but this is the first show I have ever done where I didn’t go ‘I want to go home, I want to see my kids’.

“I am sure I attribute that to not having a nervous breakdown and a divorce.”

Multiple series of events throughout the space of a couple of years led to Rita’s breakdown, with the first being killed off from EastEnders.

Roxy and her sister Ronnie Mitchell (played by Samantha Womack) drowned in horror scenes on New Year’s Day 2017.

But after her exit, she told the Daily Star Sunday: “I wish they hadn’t killed us off. I haven’t quite made peace with the fact we are dead.

“Both Sam and I were gutted. That decision was made by one person and we had no choice in the matter.”

Soon after her exit, Rita and her husband of 14 years Theo Silverston announced they had split from one another.

She admitted that they had been “growing apart” with her agent confirming: “Rita and Theo have been separated for almost two years and Theo moved out of the family home some time ago.”

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In an interview with OK! Magazine shortly after their split, Rita said: “I was physically ill every other week and I lost loads of weight.

“Every night I would go on stage in the West End in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie having just had some fraught conversation with Theo, and later on having just received legal letters.

” And I would just cry, go on stage, come off, cry and respond.

“I also had terrible insomnia for about a year. When I’m unhappy, my sleep is the first thing to go and then the knock-on is depression and anxiety.”

Things soon came to a head after her stint in I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! the star had a nervous breakdown.

The EastEnders favourite has said in the past it was one of the worst times of her life but lockdown actually helped cope with her issues.

Rita expressed that she felt she got what she wanted out of the pilgrimage and said: “I have made no secret of that fact that I didn’t go in to find myself, it really ain’t that deep.

“Have I found out anything? I am not as bad a Jew as I thought I was, I am still a bad Jew but I thought I was a terrible Jew and I’m alright so that is what I learnt from it.”

Pilgrimage: The Road Through Portugal is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

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