EastEnders’ Hayley Slater actress Katie Jarvis is now “happy and settled” in a “normal job” away from the cameras, as she talks life after the soap and court drama

Former EastEnders star Katie Jarvis has revealed that she’s now working in a garage after a sickening racist brawl nearly ended her career.

The 33-year-old played feisty Hayley Slater on the BBC soap from 2018 to 2019. In 2020, she was found guilty of a racially-aggravated brawl on Southend seafront and was sentenced to 200 hours unpaid work and a 60 hours rehabilitation requirement.

Katie said her filming career was almost over due to the attention of the court case, but managed to return to the screens as Donna in the Rise of the Footsoldier: Origins.

Now, she’s taken a step back from the lime light and has secured herself a job in a garage as well as a new home.

Addressing her stint as a security guard at B&M following two deaths in her life, she shared: “After all that happened and my contract ended with EastEnders and stuff, I decided to take three months out.

“Rather than sit at home and be depressed and miserable, I thought I’ll go and work with my sister Becky.

“So, we both worked at the same place in security, she got me in there, then it turns out a week later, obviously word has got out, and about a week later my phone starts ringing [from the press].

“Then, these pictures come out of my the next day, the front of the papers, of me walking into work.”

Katie said at the time, she felt as though she couldn’t win after being shamed for having a regular job, and argued that if she was pictured at the job centre instead, she would’ve been branded “a scumbag”.

“Up until EastEnders, I never had no bad publicity, no drama, I never had no s**t at all. I go on EastEnders and everyone jumps on everything, everyone’s up your a**e, everyone wants to be in your business, everyone thinks that they know you, it just changes the whole dynamic completely.

“You can’t win, it doesn’t matter what you do, you can’t win,” she shared on the Criminal Connections podcast.

Katie now works in a garage and admits she’s had several other regular jobs in between filming that people may not know about.

She continued: “In between filming, I’ve done a railway engineering course, I’m qualified in nails, I’ve done all sorts, the list is never ending.

“I’ve pulled back a little bit now, the last film I done was The Rise of the Footsolider, I was over the moon to play Donna.”

Addressing how she’s currently earning her money, she continued: “I’m working at the moment, a normal job, I’ve pulled back from the filming a little bit. I’m working at a garage.

“Like what Hayley was in EastEnders, I love it. I love the people I work with as well, it’s great.

I’ve normally gone between loads of jobs but I’m quite happy and settled there at the minute.”