Former EastEnders star Judi Shekoni has told how she struggled to cope with overnight success.
Judi, who at 23 joined Albert Square as gangster Angel’s wife Marjorie “Precious” Hudson, admits she felt anxiety and stress.
Now, 17, years later, she says: “No one prepares you for you for fame and the attention you get.”
Judi recalls taking the train to Enders in 2002 while Goldie, her screen husband, arrived in a Ferrari with GOLDIE number plates.
All the cast were lovely but Judi says: “I remember going home and crying in a room and going, ‘What do I do now?’ It’s just being out of your depth at an early age.
“Going from zero to 100 really quickly means you haven’t built up the capabilities. You probably don’t have the strong support system and it can trigger past events which then compound on each other.”
Despite all the attention she got after EastEnders, she says: “I have long periods where nobody knows who I am and I don’t film for a while. Which leads to relief and then panic you are never going to work again.”
Judi adds: “I have therapy most weeks and I really enjoy it.
“In LA I learned it was OK to take care of myself. Then moving back to England four years ago was me doing just that.
“I believe therapy can be a benefit to most people, helping them process and digest what happens in life. And with a career in entertainment you have to find the balance.”
Judi was in 2012’s Breaking Dawn, the second film in The Twilight Saga. Her latest film sees her starring opposite Angelina Jolie , 44, in Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, which is out on October 18.
She said: “Angelina Jolie is inspiring. She’s an actress I respect not just for her work on screen but her dedication to improving the world off screen.
“She has an innate sense of power, leadership.
“There aren’t that many women in the industry where if she didn’t sign her name on the dotted line Hollywood wouldn’t make it.
"To first cultivate that and use that power and influence for good is inspiring. She creates opportunities for women – being change rather than just preaching it.”
But Judi wouldn’t mind returning to Enders. “My career has always been a bit varied,” she says.
“Perhaps quietly sitting with a drink at the Queen Vic at the end would be the perfect way to bow out.”
