EastENders star Luisa Bradshaw-White, who played Tina Carter in the BBC soap, has opened up about her heartbreaking mental health battle during her time in the spotlight
EastEnders star Luisa Bradshaw-White checked into a psychiatric ward when her mental health spiralled. The former soap star has admitted she “nearly didn’t survive” during her darkest moments.
The former actress played Tina Carter on the BBC soap until 2020, when her character was killed off by serial killer Gray Atkins. She has now quit showbiz and set up her own dance company in Wendover Woods in Chiltern Hills.
Luisa has opened up about her devastating mental health battle during her time in the spotlight. She took to Instagram to declare she has finally “found my space in the world” at the dance company, which is called FreedOm in the Forest [sic].
Alongside a selfie, she wrote: “I used to be an actor so I had a place to put those big feelings: but it didn’t feel like where I was supposed to be.”
“I also tried to suppress those big feelings and that led to a serious mental illness, psychiatric hospitals and something I nearly didn’t survive.”
The former soap star has now quit showbiz and said she has “finally found my space in the world” thanks to her dance company(Image: Mike Marsland/WireImage)
Luisa continued: “I don’t try to hide my big feelings I know they are powerful indicators for how to live my life fully. I know that when I go in deep to the big feelings I experience, with a feeling of curiosity and love, I emerge out the other side with new wisdom with new insights and feeling so much more self love and clarity about who I am.”
Referencing her dance company, she said: “My favourite thing about my life now is that I have found people like me who want to come and dance and breathe to feel all this too.”
Luisa continued: “And somehow they move thru some of the same feelings that I have been experiencing. I’m so grateful that I have access to all these big, wild emotions.”
Luisa said she has “found people like me who want to come and dance and breathe to feel all this too”
Inviting others to come and “explore” their own feelings, she added: “If you would like to come and experience and explore your own deep feelings you would be so welcome. Sometimes it takes a while to find them… & Sometimes they are there in the discomfort of just turning up new to something, raw and out of your comfort zone.”
Luisa has appeared in shows such as Grange Hill, This Life, Holby City, The Bill, and A Touch of Frost. She was a series regular in Hobly City from 2001 until 2005.
She starred in EastEnders from 2013 until 2020, and during that time got nominations for Best Actress and Funniest Female at the Inside Soap Awards.
