’EastEnders’ star Kellie Bright has revealed how long she will be away from the soap when she goes on maternity leave.
The Linda Carter actress is currently pregnant, and the character will be departing Walford in the coming months before Kellie welcomes her second child with husband Paul Stocker.
But fans shouldn’t worry about her future on the soap, as it seems she won’t be gone for too long.
“I’ll be on maternity leave for six months,” Kellie told Inside Soap. “’EastEnders’ were very flexible, and left it entirely up to me.
“I didn’t want to be away forever but I also wanted enough time at home to enjoy my baby.”
It is expected that Kellie’s on-screen husband, Danny Dyer (aka Mick Carter), will remain on the soap during her absence.
However, details of how Linda will leave the Square are yet to be confirmed, although there has been speculation her departure could tie in with the exit of Mick and Linda’s eldest son, Lee (Danny-Boy Hatchard), who is leaving the soap later this year.
Kellie is due to give birth in November, and recently revealed appearing on ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ helped with the difficulty she had Paul had conceiving.
Speaking to OK! magazine, she said: “It took the focus off trying and the fact that I was nearing 40. We were trying for more than a year and I was very aware that I wasn’t getting any younger.”
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