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EastEnders heartthrob Jack Ryder has admitted that fame at a young age was ‘tough to cope with’ as he reflected on his career.
Speaking on Wednesday’s Lorraine, the actor, 39, said ‘no one can prepare you for it’ and that he ‘just kept his head down and got on with it’.
Jack won a legion of fans after being cast as fresh-faced Jamie Mitchell in 1998, a role he played for four-years before leaving Albert Square for good in 2002 when he was killed off.
Candid: EastEnders heartthrob Jack Ryder has admitted that fame at a young age was ‘tough to cope with’ as he reflected on his career
Speaking about his meteoric rise to fame, he told Lorraine: ‘Yeah, no one can prepare you for it. It was before social media, the last kind of golden era of TV.
‘My last episode I think got something like 25million viewers. I love the work. The fame side was tough to cope with at that age. I just kept my head down and got on with it.’
On the programme viewers were also shown an unrecognisable throwback snap of Jamie as he arrived in Walford as a teenager.
During the interview Jack added that he is still in touch with some of his old cast mates including Dean Gaffney, Natalie Cassidy and Steve McFadden.
Wow! Jack – who was starred as Jamie Mitchell in the BBC soap 18 years ago but was killed off – looked unrecognisable in a throwback snap shown on the show as he posed next to Walford station
Honest: Speaking on Wednesday’s Lorraine, the actor, 39, said ‘no one can prepare you for it’ and that he ‘just kept his head down and got on with it’
He said: ‘Me and Dean Gaffney and Natalie (Cassidy) and even Steve McFadden I bumped into, it was his 60th birthday and we had a little chat. We’re all loosely in touch and have fond memories together.’
Jack also spoke about becoming a parent for the first time after his long-term partner Ella gave birth earlier this month.
He said: ‘She’s doing great, it’s a mixed bag, parenting. As soon as you think you’ve nailed it something else happens. We’re relishing being parents.
Stars: During the interview Jack added that he is still in touch with some of his old cast mates including Dean Gaffney (left) and Steve McFadden (right)
Proud: Jack also spoke about becoming a parent for the first time after his long-term partner Ella gave birth earlier this month
‘Without lockdown I probably would’ve been shipped off somewhere to direct something so the fact I’ve been present for every milestone has been incredible. That’s something that I’ll never forget.’
Back in May he said they were both excited about the prospect of raising a baby while appearing on Loose Women.
Talking to the panel from home, he said: ‘We are due in July. Ella and I are gushy and over the moon – I always just smile when I talk about it.
‘We’re prepared as we can be, we’ve got toys all around the place, and clothes and bits and pieces. We’re ready to go. We’re very humbled and grateful, it’s going to be an amazing journey.’
Jack is a successful theatre director with productions of Calendar Girls, The Full Monty and The History Boys under his belt, and he has now added another string to his bow by writing a children’s book.
Secret Summer, the first in a series of planned books from the actor, will focus on the experiences of a child whose parents have separated.
And he has admitted he was inspired to write after discovering the works of Roald Dahl following previous failed attempts to read other celebrated Children’s novelists.
Yay: Back in May he said they were both excited about the prospect of raising a baby while appearing on Loose Women
He recalled in May: ‘I remember picking up the box set of the CS Lewis books as a kid, and I read The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. Then I started to read the second one (Prince Caspian) and I really lost interest.
‘I think I then tried The Hobbit and I lost interest in that, and then we took a little family holiday to Cranbrook and we stayed in this country house and Matilda was on the book shelf, and I remember picking that book up and reading it, and for the first time ever being completely comforted by that story.
‘I think I read it twice on that trip and then I read more of Roald Dahl’s work and that’s what got me into reading more as a child.’
Old times: The actor is best known for playing doomed Jamie Mitchell in EastEnders (pictured with screen girlfriend Sonia Jackson, played by Natalie Cassidy)
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