Sharon Watts’ portrayal in EastEnders, portrayed by Letitia Dean, has shown off her impressive weight loss in a new EastEnders trailer ahead of the new episodes airing next week.
EastEnders star Letitia Dean has showed off her impressive weight loss in a new teaser episode for the BBC soap opera.
The 57-year-old actress, who portrays Sharon Watts, will be back in Walford tomorrow – months after she left following the death of Martin Fowler. But a teaser episode shows her reaction as she spots Zoe Slater (played by Michelle Ryan) for the first time since her return.
In the clip, Letitia can be seen wearing a pair of figure-hugging black leggings and a top, revealing her weight loss. After the clip was shared by the official EastEnders account on Instagram, many fans congratulated the actress on her new look.
READ MORE: EastEnders’ Letitia Dean’s weight loss plan after dropping four dress sizes
One person praised “she looks incredible,” while another referred to “welcome home icon”! “Sharon is back,” a third person said. Letitia Dean returning to EastEnders is welcome. “The Queen returns” has one more addition.
Letitia, who has been a regular on and off the soap since the very first episode first aired in 1985, has openly discussed her battle with body image and yo-yo weight over the years, and has previously revealed how cruel trolls had targeted her. I received a lot of bad ole’ things for my character. On the spin-off series Secrets from the Square, she said, “She’s too fat, the other actors complain they can’t fit on the same set with her.”
She also revealed that constant criticism impairs her self-assurance and led to her having her breasts removed as a teenager. Letitia acknowledged that her decision was influenced by vile remarks, even though there were also medical reasons for her choice.
Backache was also a factor in that choice, she explained to Hello! in October 2001. However, I felt much less confident in myself and much more focused on my appearance. The attention to my appearance occasionally bothers me, just like it does to all women, doesn’t it? – but those things are still in perspective today.
After reprising her role as Sharon from 2001-2006, Letitia left the soap and appeared in Strictly Come Dancing a year later, helping her get fit. The BBC personality, who placed fourth in the competition alongside dancer partner Darren Bennett, claimed it was her new way of life.
She explained to Closer, “It all began with Strictly Come Dancing because I was feeling great by the end of the set and the live performance.” However, I wanted to change my figure because I was so sick of doing extreme dieting and losing weight.
“I only had enough when I woke up one morning.” My weight had yo-yoed up and down for years and years, as long as I can recall. I’d follow traditional diets like Atkins, or I’d stick to eggs. It wouldn’t be long until she “slipped back into my old ways and put it all on again,” according to Letitia, who claimed that while she could “drop a stone” in a few weeks “on the extreme diets, she would not be able to” lose a stone on her own.
However, the actress dropped two stone when she appeared on High School Musical in 2008. By increasing her exercise and choosing healthier meals, she revealed that she had lost weight in the “good old fashioned way.”
I ever since changed my size from 14 to 10, and I never look back. She shared her first workout with me last year, and since then, I’ve fallen in love with it. Running and boxing are now my two favorite pastimes. I danced and exercised, not starving myself, or following some crazy fad diet, so I lost weight the good old-fashioned way.