actress

EastEnders actress Maddy Hill has broken her silence about her real-life pregnancy away from the BBC soap

An EastEnders actress has opened up about her being pregnant the same time as her on-screen character in the the BBC soap.

In recent episodes, Nancy Carter, played by Maddy Hill, made a welcome return to Albert Square to seek advice from her younger brother, Johnny Carter (Charlie Suff) insisting that their “interfering” mother, Linda Carter (Kellie Bright), remained unaware of her visit.

However, Nancy was rumbled when she attended the hospital for abdominal pain, and was met by a shocked Linda, and her grandmother, Elaine Peacock (Harriet Thorpe). In a twist, Nandy was revealed to be pregnant but remained tight-lipped about the father’s identity.

That same day, Nancy turned up at Peacock Palace, accompanied by her baby’s mysterious father, who happened to be her sheepish elder brother Lee (Danny Hatchard).

It soon transpired that Nancy is acting as a surrogate for Lee and his partner Jess, but the couple is now separated and not on good terms. Nancy is now pursuing legal guidance from Johnny regarding custody of the baby, as Lee wants to be a single parent with no involvement from his ex-girlfriend.

As actress Maddy Hill embarks on a dramatic baby storyline in EastEnders, she has opened up about her real-life pregnancy. In a behind-the-scenes video showcasing her return to the soap after a four-year absence, the soap star spoke about what it is like expecting a child.

In the “day in the life” video on the EastEnders Instagram page, Maddy spoke about how she’s glad she doesn’t have to spend long in makeup, due to needing to go for a wee about “every 10 minutes” while pregnant.

Shortly after, Maddy went to chat with actress Kellie Bright, who plays her on-screen mum, and appeared to confirm she is expecting a baby girl.

Looking at Maddy’s bump, Kellie asked: “How is she today?”, prompting Maddy to reply, “She’s lively today”. Kellie added, “Oh, she’s a lively one,” as Maddy added that the baby liked the lunch of quiche, potato, and aubergine salad. “There’s something joyful about playing a pregnancy, even when it’s a complicated pregnancy,” she said.

Maddy’s behind-the-scenes video prompted a response from fans who “didn’t realise” that she is pregnant. Taking to the comments, one person asked: “Is she pregnant in real life? Looks very real x.” A second added: “Omg is she actually pregnant irl? Looks so real”, while a third chimed in: “Wahhhhhh such big congrats.”

“Congratulations Maddy! Good to have Nancy back!”, shared one viewer as another echoed the sentiment: “Was saying to my friend bump looks real, didn’t realise it’s her real life pregnancy, congrats Maddy!” Meanwhile, Kellie Bright wrote on the post: “I love you @maddyhill90, and I can’t wait to get my hands on that baby!!!!!”

EastEnders airs Monday to Thursday on BBC One and iPlayer

Lea Seydoux played the psychologist Dr. Madeleine Swann in the James Bond films Spectre and No Time to Die when Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson were in charge of 007.

Actress Léa Seydoux says the James Bond films will “never be the same” after Amazon bought the rights and gained creative control of the franchise. Lea played the psychologist Dr. Madeleine Swann in the James Bond films Spectre and No Time to Die in 2015 and 2021 when Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson were in charge of 007.

The daughter and stepson of Albert “Cubby” Broccoli, who launched Bond in 1962 have now stepped down and Amazon will now decide which actor will take over the famous character from Daniel Craig.

Speaking to Elle UK, Lea said “I really loved working with [former Bond producer] Barbara Broccoli and her brother Michael [G Wilson]. It was one of the best experiences, a pure delight. And I don’t know, it will be different.”

She added that the next film’s director Denis Villeneuve was a great choice but added: “Let’s see. I’m curious how they will reinvent it. But for me, it will never be the same because it was Barbara’s father who initiated the Bond movies. Now, I don’t know, it became American… I hope they will keep the British spirit.”

Lea also gave her thoughts on who should play the next Bond. She said: “He needs to be layered, you know? And that’s something that’s hard to find in young actors.”

James Norton, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Theo James have been among the bookmakers’ favourites to fill Craig’s shoes over the past few years.

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Lea has been at the Cannes Film Festival this summer where she launched two new films including Gentle Monster which is released at the end of the month and saw her in nude scenes which she filmed soon after the birth of her second son.

She said: “They were difficult for me, of course, but it’s the body I had at the time I made those films. I think it’s important to see bodies that you can relate to… to make it more believable in a way. It was a few months after I gave birth, and I’m proud to show my body, that is, a real body.”

She has also learned to accept her own body and how she isn’t always the most efficient person on a film set.

Lea explained: “I’m not someone who’s very efficient – but I think it’s good not to be. I don’t want to stick to one thing. I tried when I was younger to fit in more. Now I’m accepting this part of me, and I like it. There’s a great freedom in that. It’s something AI will never replicate.”

* The November issue of Elle UK is on sale from Thursday. Gentle Monster will be in select UK cinemas from October 30 and on Netflix from November 18.

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THE actress sister of a Hollywood star looked super stylish as she stepped out at Paris Fashion Week – but can you guess her famous relative?

This New York-born actress, 34, played the lead in HBO Max comedy-drama The Sex Lives of College Girls.

She has appeared in films including The King of Staten Island and The Devil Wears Prada 2 – but does she look familiar?

It’s Pauline Chalamet, whose younger brother is Golden Globe-winning actor Timothée Chalamet.

Pauline attended the Zimmermann Womenswear Spring/Summer 2027 show, held in the French capital.

Last year, The U.S. Sun revealed the siblings had fallen out due to Timothée relationship with Kylie Jenner.

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Pauline had seemingly taken not-so subtle social media digs at Kylie in the past, slamming billionaires, extreme wealth and private jets.

Two well-placed insiders close to the siblings told The U.S. Sun that their relationship was at an “all-time low” due to Pauline’s disapproval of Kylie.

The first source said “something is broken” between the pair, claiming Pauline believed Kylie “doesn’t share the same values and morals as he does,” and that she will “leave him when she gets fed up.”

“Pauline thinks that Kylie is with her brother because it looks cool and it’s nice to be in a relationship with one of Hollywood’s most exciting young stars,” said the first source. “She thinks she’s with him to keep the spotlight on her.”

Different sources told The U.S. Sun there were serious family concerns about the relationship, suggesting it would be “a terrible mistake” for the couple to get married.

A family member, speaking anonymously, questioned how “two complete opposites” could make a marriage work.

Meanwhile, superstars Timothée and Kylie first began their relationship back in 2023.

Kylie, 29, has two children with her ex-boyfriend, rapper and record producer Travis Scott.

IT was written all over Katie Holmes’s face as she arrived at the Calvin Klein show at this month’s New York Fashion Week. 

The reason for the actress’s mega-watt smile? The man on her arm, artist Jason Bard Yarmosky, whom Holmes, 47, has been dating since the start of the summer – and helped her get over the trauma of her doomed marriage to Tom Cruise. 

Holmes and her new man, 39,  attended four major fashion week events together, each time carefully co-ordinating their outfits – which in Hollywood terms says far more about relationship status than you might think. 

Their romance has been the talk of New York society this summer, since they were first spotted in the Hamptons together in early July. 

Handsome Jason is something of a name himself, building 40,000 followers on Instagram where he shares his work. 

A source tells The Sun that he and Holmes have fallen for one another – fast – and that engagement may well be the next move. 

“They have become close very quickly,” says the source.

“Something about Jason’s sense of self and passion for what he does really pulled Katie into his orbit and they’ve become inseparable. They are very much in love.”

They reportedly first met at a Tribeca Festival dinner in June, where Yarmosky had been selected for the festival’s Artist Awards Programme which was presented by Chanel. 

They immediately bonded, says a source, over their “shared creativity”, with Holmes impressed by his work and his “quietly confident” energy. 

Yarmosky is certainly cool, becoming something of a power player on the New York art scene, recently creating work for a special exhibition at iconic department store Bergdorf Goodman. 

His website describes his paintings and drawings as centring around “themes of aging, time and memory” with a lot of his recent work inspired by his grandparents. 

They made their relationship Instagram official this month, and shared sizzling photos from a trip they took to Lake Como in Italy as a collab post, the ultimate new power couple move. 

Our source said that the trip was a huge step for them, and their electric connection was plain to see in the series of bikini photos as they enjoyed a boat trip on the lake.

Her friend Amy Astley, the former Vogue editor, commented that she was “glowing”. 

“For Katie to make this romance so public is very telling,” said one friend. 

“She has deliberately kept her romantic life under wraps for decades.” 

Indeed, Holmes’s only long term relationship since her high-profile divorce from Tom Cruise, after almost six years of marriage, was with Jamie Foxx. 

They were said to have dated for five years and in that time they were photographed together out in public only a handful of times. 

In 2019, there were two – very rare – public appearances, first at the Clive Davis and Recording Academy Pre-Grammy Gala, then at the Met Gala. 

A few months later, the romance was said to be over – and Holmes hasn’t found a great love again, until now, despite being linked fleetingly to chef Emilio Vitolo Jr. in 2020 and musician Bobby Wooten III in 2022.

“Things feel very different for Katie now,” said the source. 

“For the first time since splitting from Tom, she wants to show the world how in love she is.”

And she certainly is – so much so that rumours are circulating that the pair could even be heading for engagement. 

“It’s been a complete whirlwind,” said one Hollywood source.

“Katie’s friends and – most importantly – her parents Martin and Kathleen, all approve of the relationship. It is a big deal that they are together so publicly, it says a lot about where they are at.”

Holmes has been notoriously private about every aspect of her life since her extremely high profile marriage, and subsequent divorce from Tom Cruise – something which left her feeling “shaken” and “cautious about living in the spotlight” said sources at the time. 

It has been almost twenty years since the pair married in a lavish Italian wedding, at Bracciano’s 15th-century Odescalchi Castle – a celebration that reportedly cost them upwards of $3 million and included a performance by Andrea Bocelli. 

Their relationship had been a whirlwind, from meeting in 2004, to getting engaged in 2005 and having their only child Suri in April 2006, just seven months prior to the wedding, the pair became a Hollywood power couple – known as TomKat – in record time. 

She told W magazine, “I’ve found the man of my dreams”.

But their downfall was almost as dramatic as the couch-jumping which defined the start of the romance. 

Holmes filed for divorce from Tom Cruise in 2012 after nearly six years of marriage through a carefully planned, covert exit from the relationship. 

The Wall Street Journal reported at the time that the couple had been at loggerheads about Scientology, the controversial religion of which Cruise has been a prominent member for over 40 years, calling it a “beautiful religion”. 

He said in 2016, “It’s something that has helped me incredibly in my life.” 

He added, “It’s something, you know, without it, I wouldn’t be where I am. So it’s a beautiful religion. I’m incredibly proud.”

Reports revealed that Holmes and Cruise had disagreements over how the couple’s daughter, Suri, would be raised, with Holmes wanting to raise Suri away from Scientology. 

During a court case in 2013, Cruise confirmed that it was “one of the assertions” made by his ex-wife which led to their split. 

Following the split, Holmes was granted custody of Suri and they set up home in New York where they lived an exceptionally quiet life. 

Cruise was last photographed with his daughter, now 20 and attending Pennsylvania’s Carnegie Mellon University, in 2012 and she is said to have dropped his last name going instead by Suri Noelle, her mother’s middle name, in a recent Edinburgh Festival performance. 

“They don’t have any kind of relationship,” a source has said of Suri and Cruise. “She was raised by Katie. They are incredibly close.”

Prior to her marriage Holmes had been riding high in her career which started with hit teen show Dawson’s Creek, and had just starred in Batman Begins in 2005. 

Following their dramatic split, however, Holmes found herself somewhat “iced out of Hollywood”, says one industry insider. 

Two years ago Holmes admitted: “Do I have 20 scripts at my door, all with the green light? No. Would that make life easier? Yes.” 

Her most notable role in the post-Cruise years was as Jaqueline Kennedy in the TV miniseries The Kennedys, but the big blockbuster offers dried up. 

Two years ago, she made a splash on Broadway with director Kenny Leon’s revival of Our Town. 

Since then Holmes has been busy stepping back into the spotlight. 

She has written and directed new romcom Happy Hours, in which she also stars alongside her former Dawson’s Creek co-star – and ex-boyfriend – Joshua Jackson. 

She said earlier this year that “working with Josh again was a dream.”

Their friendship, which has been renewed in recent years after going no-contact while Holmes was married to Cruise, has been a huge part of Holmes’s “finding herself” again, our source tells us.

“With Josh, Katie can be herself,” they revealed. “He’s known her since they were kids. He’s encouraged her to find her voice artistically and also lean into being in the spotlight once again.”

And Holmes is certainly doing that, with more public appearances with her new man this year than we’ve seen since she was with Cruise, and a renewed spotlight on her life and career which she appears to be enjoying. 

“Katie is happy and confident in who she is in a way that felt impossible even ten years ago,” said our source. 

“Going through such a high profile divorce from someone who is so powerful, like Tom Cruise, was a life-shattering thing for her. It’s taken time but Katie feels free – and Jason is a big part of that.” 

As Holmes said two years ago: “I’m adamant about having a life and not letting this industry dictate decisions as simple as what I wear or as complicated as what I do.” 

She added, “You don’t want to be afraid of anything, right?” 

It looks like Katie Holmes is really living by those words.

Sanjeev Bhaskar joins Nicola Walker’s The Split spin-off The Split Up but could he reunite with his former Unforgotten co-star?

Sanjeev Bhaskar is heading up BBC’s next big legal drama tonight with fans keen to know all there is about his personal life.

The Split Up debuts tonight, Sunday, September 20, at 9pm, on BBC One, delving into the Kishan family’s life as Manchester’s elite law firm.

Founder of Kishan Law is father-of-three Dhruv Kishan who is having doubts about leaving his business in his daughter’s hands following the death of her mother.

With The Split fans gearing up to tune into its BBC spin-off, here’s everything there is to know about leading man Sanjeev Bhaskar.

Inside The Split Up star Sanjeev Bhaskar’s life

Early life

Actor Sanjeev Bhaskar was born in Ealing in 1963 after his parents fled their home during the 1947 partition of India and moved to the UK.

He studied business with marketing at Hatfield Polytechnic and worked in marketing before getting into the entertainment industry in his early 30s.

Sanjeev got his breakthrough with the musical comedy double act Secret Asians with Nitin Sawhney which led to the BBC sketch show Goodness Gracious Me.

Sanjeev Bhaskar’s famous wife

The Split Up star Sanjeev Bhaskar is married to actress and comedian Dame Meera Syal who he met on Goodness Gracious Me which she co-created

They once again starred opposite each other in the sitcom The Kumars at No 42 where she played the grandmother of Sanjeev’s character, despite being younger than him.

The pair got married in 2005 and Sanjeev became the step-father to Meera’s daughter Milli from another relationship before welcoming son Shaan later that year.

In 2023, Meera received the BAFTA Fellowship award for her outstanding contributions to TV and film and was made a Dame last year for her services to drama, literature and charity.

In an interview with The Times, Sanjeev shared that he was “super proud” of his wife’s achievements.

Unforgotten season 7 update

Sanjeev will reprise his role as DI Sunny Khan in the seventh season of ITV ’s Unforgotten, now starring alongside Sinead Keenan as DCI Jess James.

Filming for the latest series began in January 2026 and recent reports have suggested that shooting is now complete, although an official return date hasn’t been confirmed.

Sanjeev is starring in BBC The Split Up, the spin-off of The Split which starred his former Unforgotten co-star Nicola Walker.

Speaking of his hopes that there could one day be an onscreen reunion to Radio Times, Sanjeev said: “Emotionally, it would be like some sort of cosmic miracle. I wouldn’t mind it at all.”

Sanjeev Bhaskar net worth

It has been widely reported that Sanjeev Bhaskar has a net worth of around £2 million.

This brings into consideration his almost 30-year career in the entertainment industry as an actor, writer and comedian.

He continues to be a major star in the ITV hit drama Unforgotten and has a star-studded comedy film on the way called The Entertainment System Is Down.

The feature is expected to star major names including Keanu Reeves, Samantha Morton, Kirsten Dunst, Tobias Menzies and Connor Swindells.

The Split Up debuts tonight, Sunday, September 20, at 9pm, on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

Federal authorities probing the death of actor Hayden Panettiere are focusing on where the drugs and medications that played a role in her death came from, echoing similar probes that resulted in charges for suppliers in the deaths of Matthew Perry and Mac Miller.

Drug Enforcement Administration agents and local investigators have questioned several people about the circumstances of her Aug. 16 death, focusing on potential controlled substances and medications tied to her demise inside a Greenville, S.C., apartment, according to sources familiar with the probe.

Paramedics and police found Panettiere in cardiac arrest, according to the Greenville County Coroner’s Office. Dispatch audio recordings from Broadcastify.com reference a possible overdose and CPR in progress. Narcan was reportedly administered by paramedics who arrived, and after efforts to resuscitate her, she was declared dead at 2:31 p.m.

Her death echoes that of actor Matthew Perry and rapper Mac Miller, both of whom succumbed to overdoses. In their respective cases, prosecutors secured convictions for the people who supplied Perry with ketamine and Miller with cocaine and oxycodone pills laced with fentanyl. Perry’s demise in his hot tub led to his assistant, two doctors, a producer and a woman dubbed the “Ketamine Queen” pleading guilty.

The Greenville County coroner, in the wake of Panettiere’s death, conducted an autopsy but has not made a formal finding on the cause of death and toxicology results are pending.

Panettiere lived in Los Angeles, but her boyfriend, Brian Hickerson, is a Greenville native, according to authorities. A police report outlined the initial response from police who arrived at the scene. The report states that Hickerson and his brother Zach Hickerson were with Panettiere inside an apartment when the 36-year-old actor died.

According to the police report, Brian Hickerson showed an officer “a bag of medications HAYDEN is currently on.”

Several areas of the report were redacted, including statements from the brothers about what transpired as they called 911.

The officer who authored the report, Matthew Bryan, wrote that he recorded an interview with Brian Hickerson on his body-worn camera, and observed Zach Hickerson being “very emotional” while first responders tried to revive the actor. Brian Hickerson became emotional after she was declared dead, Officer Matthew Bryan wrote.

Later, he said that authorities obtained video of three individuals coming and going from the apartment from the complex’s security, which helped detectives with a search warrant.

Sloan Ellis, a South Carolina attorney for Hickerson hired in the wake of Panettiere’s death, said in a statement, “Hayden’s death remains under investigation, and it is important to allow that investigation to proceed. As has been publicly reported, police confirmed there were no signs of foul play. Out of respect for Hayden’s loved ones and the ongoing investigation, there will be no further comment at this time.”

Sources familiar with the probe have met with DEA agents about the actor‘s death, according to People magazine and TMZ.

Hickerson was arrested multiple times on suspicion of domestic violence against Panettiere, beginning in May 2019 in Los Angeles, though the charges were later dismissed when prosecutors couldn’t secure a material witness.

Following an eight-count criminal indictment in 2020 that covered multiple violent incidents over the previous year, Hickerson pleaded no contest in April 2021 to two felony counts of injuring a spouse or girlfriend.

He was sentenced to 45 days in county jail along with four years of formal probation, ordered to attend mandatory domestic violence classes, and received a five-year protective order.