EastEnders legend Letitia Dean found love with Holby City star before they parted ways
EastEnders legend Letitia Dean was once married to a television star before their “upsetting” divorce.
Fans of the BBC soap will be delighted as Letitia has reprised her role as Sharon Watts and returned to Walford on Thursday (July 9). She is one of the show’s long-running characters, having appeared in the first episode, which aired in February 1985, as the adoptive daughter of Angie (Anita Dobson) and Den Watts (Leslie Grantham).
From that scandalous affair with the Mitchell brothers during the 90s, to plotting Ian Beale’s (Adam Woodyatt) murder, suffering the loss of her son Denny, and covering up Keanu Taylor’s death, there is nothing Sharon hasn’t been involved in.
Away from the drama of Albert Square, we take a peek at Letitia’s real life, including her marriage to a Holby City star.
Letitia’s rise to fame
Born in Hertfordshire, Letitia and her brother Stephen joined The Sylvia Mitchell School of Dance as children before joining the esteemed Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts at 10 years old. In her early teens, she became a professional performer and landed roles on hit shows including Brookside and Grange Hill.
The 58-year-old soap star, from Potters Bar, orginally played Sharon from 1985 until 1995, and reprised the role from 2001 to 2006. She then made an epic comeback to Walford in 2012.
Appearing alongside co-star Adam Woodyatt on the EastEnders spin-off show Secrets from the Square in 2020, Letitia revealed she lied to producers to get her role as Sharon Watts.
Letitia admitted: “I don’t really remember the audition that much. I know there were quite a few recalls. They were looking far and wide”, but there was one major problem.
The biggest requirement to land a role in the show was that the producers were looking for real Cockneys – people from East London who have a Cockney accent, so Letitia lied and said she was from the area.
Letitia continued: “We had to be born ‘within the sound of Bow bells'”, before adding: “I told a porky!”.
She added: “I said my parents had to go and work away, and I was staying with somebody in ‘the sound of Bow bells’. I do remember getting the job and getting the call. I remember that quite clearly. It was just so exciting.”
Is Letitia Dean married?
Letitia tends not to talk much about her relationships and generally keeps her private life out of the public eye.
However, in 2001, she hit the headlines when it was revealed she was engaged to actor and businessman Jason Pethers, who is perhaps best known for portraying Rob Greening in Holby City.
The couple got engaged after a few months of knowing each other and tied the knot at All Saints’ Church in Marylebone in 2002.
While there were many of her EastEnders castmates at the wedding, Susan Tully, who played Michelle Fowler, acted as her bridesmaid.
But it wasn’t meant to be for the TV stars as they split in 2007. The marriage reportedly ended due to a difference in their plans for starting a family.
Talking about their tough separation during another chat with the Mirror at the time, Letitia admitted that she and Jason are ‘in a good place’, despite having parted ways.
She revealed: “I do not regret one minute of my time with Jay. I was in love – desperately in love – and I can’t reiterate enough how thankful I am that I did get married to that man.”
Letitia added: “As a couple you can, hopefully, go down the same path together as long as you share the same desires and dreams. Unfortunately, many of us fork off in different directions.
“This is the first time I’ve ever talked about what happened, but I’m quite practical about this now. I’ve got nothing but good things to say about Jason. But sometimes you just grow out of each other, maybe.
“I did think that by waiting until a bit later in life for marriage, I would know more, and it would last. But none of us can predict. Of course, I didn’t want this to happen, and neither did he, but it did and though it’s upsetting, you just have to get on with it. You have to be strong.”
At the time, Jason’s mum, Joan, said the couple decided to split because Letitia wanted children, while her husband preferred to wait before having them, the Daily Mirror reported.
She said, “They both wanted children, but Jason wanted to wait until he could afford it. She had a lot more money than him. I think, like any man, he wanted to look after his wife.
“They were happy. It was no dramatic thing – they haven’t found someone else. I guess they just fell out of love for the time being.”
Since their separation, Letitia has yet to go public with another romance.
EastEnders airs Monday to Thursday on BBC One and iPlayer
