EastEnders star Aaron Sidwell opened up about his heartbreak after losing his best friend to a brain tumour a few weeks ago.
The actor, who plays Steven Beale in the soap, got emotional as he spoke about the tragedy during Friday’s Lorraine.
Aaron’s character Steven had lied about having the exact same disease and the star revealed it was difficult to film because his friend was suffering with the tumour.
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Stand in host Christine Lampard said: “I have to ask you Aaron, it’s an awful thing – here you are playing this role, pretending to have brain cancer, but actually in real life one of your really good friends was dealing with this disease and sadly lost his flight just a week ago.
“That must have been a dreadful period for you.”
Aaron, who appeared to get emotional, said: “It wasn’t easy. He’s such a young man with two beautiful girls, just a couple of years younger than mine.
“To have lost his battle, it was very tough personally, but this is what we do.
“You can’t always do the stories you want to do, and this was given to me and I had to run with it.”
He went on to explain that his cast mates were amazing support for him including Jacqueline Jossa, his on-screen fiancee.
He said: “I always had Jacqueline so was able to talk to Jac the entire time. We have a very close family life as well as close [work] one, so I had her the whole time.”
Soap bosses confirmed Aaron’s exit from the BBC soap yesterday.
“Aaron Sidwell is part of one of the big upcoming storylines and we can confirm, following dramatic scenes to be aired later this summer, he will be leaving the show,” the soap’s bosses revealed.
“We wish Aaron all the very best for the future.”
The star’s character has been involved in a controverisal story line with him faking having cancer.
In a desperate bid to keep Lauren Branning, Steven lied about having a brain tumour.
Steven has shown her a brain scan (which actually belonged to a dog) and popped the question to keep her firmly by his side.
And to make it worse both Lauren’s sister Abi and dad Max are both in on Steven’s plot.
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Lauren has admitted she doesn’t love Steven but with the wedding coming up very soon will she go ahead with it?
He told Christine that Steven will soon spin “out of control” and will become a “puppet” to Max.
But will his lies ever be exposed?