As the EastEnders villain Cindy Beale, Michelle Collins has been causing havoc in Walford over the last year, but away from the BBC soap, the actress leads a quiet family life
EastEnders is gearing up for another dramatic festive season, all thanks to the scheming Cindy Beale. Last year saw Michelle Collins make a sensational return to her role as Cindy, over 25 years since she last graced the BBC soap.
Cindy first made her appearance in Albert Square back in 1988, and left a decade later after a failed attempt to murder her husband Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt) by hiring a hitman. She’s also the mother to Steven, who passed away in 2017, and twins Peter (Thomas Law) and Lucy Beale, with Lucy tragically killed by Bobby Beale in 2014.
Fans of EastEnders were led to believe that Cindy had died during childbirth. However, upon her return, Cindy revealed she’d been living under witness protection and had started a new family with ex-husband George Knight (Colin Salmon), with whom she has two daughters, Gina (Francesca Henry) and Anna (Molly Rainford).
Since her comeback, ‘true’ to form, Cindy has rekindled her relationship with Ian and they are now engaged. But she’s also having an affair with Junior Knight (Micah Balfour) after trying to reconcile with his father George.
Away from the spotlight of Walford, Michelle enjoys a much quieter family life compared to her on-screen persona, reports the Manchester Evening News.
Michelle started dating her now-husband, Mike Davidson, in 2012, after being introduced by Michelle’s niece, who reportedly worked for Mike in a retail store.
The Express has dished out the deets on actress Michelle and her young fiancé Mike who, at 22 years her junior, popped the question in April 2022 a whole decade after their first meet-cute.
Michelle Collins found love with (Image: Dave Benett/Getty Images)
Fast-forward to August 2022, and the lovebirds tied the knot in a charming ceremony at Islington Town Hall.
Chinwagging on Kaye Adams’ ‘How to be 60’ podcast, the soap legend dished on her pre-wedded scepticism: “I’ve been engaged a few times, but I never thought I would ever get married and actually he also said he would never get married. I said: ‘so why did you suddenly decide? Why did you ask me? ‘ I was intrigued.
“He said ‘because with your mum gone, I knew how much she meant to you and I felt I wanted to make you feel safe and look after you’. It’s such a beautiful lovely thing to say. And I suppose I do feel safe.”
Michelle didn’t just chat about her whirlwind romance, though; she candidly shared her rocky road to love, confessing: “I just seem to be one of these people who it’s taken me a long time to find myself. I was maybe looking in the wrong places, looking for the wrong people.”
Cindy Beale returned to EastEnders in 2023 after a 25 year absence (Image: BBC/Jack Barnes/Kieron McCarron)
But there’s more to Michelle as she is also a proud mum to Maia Rose, born in 1996 with former flame Fabrizio Tassalini, but the pairs separation left Michelle battling her own dark moments. Fabrizio tragically passed away on October 31, 2014, due to liver cancer.
Opening up to The Mirror in 2014, the celeb revealed her darkest moments: “I felt like I’d been tipped over the edge. I felt like a failure and found myself sinking lower and lower as the days went on, until in the end I couldn’t seem to pull myself out of the hole.”
She admitted to a harrowing episode, recalling: “I remember swallowing some pills. There was no definite plan or explicit decision behind my actions. It just happened.”
Happily, after enduring such tough times, she turned her life around and fell for Mike back in 2012, starting a fresh chapter filled with love.
EastEnders airs Monday – Thursday on BBC One and iPlayer at 7:30pm
