'I'M NOT SORRY FOR MY OWN OPINIONS'

Martine McCutcheon on feeling liberated as she approaches 50, how becoming a mum has changed how she sees Christmas and whether she'd ever return to EastEnders

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She stole every scene in EastEnders, topped the charts with her debut album, won an Olivier Award for her West End performance in My Fair Lady and headlined everyone's favourite Christmas movie. Now Love, Actually star Martine McCutcheon is gearing up for a new challenge - turning 50.

Alongside her enormous success, Martine has also endured her fair share of hardship. Last year the mum-of-one announced her separation from Jack McManus after 12 years of marriage, in 2022 her beloved brother U passed away aged just 31, and she's estranged from her mother Jenny. But with Christmas coming up fast and a new year on the horizon, Martine is looking forwards, not backwards.

"You can think about the things you didn't do or haven't done yet and let that frighten you. But I'm just thrilled that I'm fit, well, happy and I have my little boy," she says.

Icons like Oprah Winfrey, Kim Cattrall and Brené Brown have inspired Martine to embrace getting older, to feel confident in herself and to set boundaries.

"These trailblazing women have really changed the course and the tone of what 50 is for women," she says. "They are not just speaking it, they're living it."

Without the women who've gone before her, Martine believes she would have feared her landmark birthday next May.

"I would have been quite scared," she admits. "That judgemental little gremlin on my shoulder could have been going, 'What about this? What about that?' But I actually think because of the women who have been brave enough to 100% unapologetically be themselves, I feel less judgemental of myself.