Jacqueline Jossa is said to have turned down an EastEnders return.
The former Walford favourite – who played Lauren Branning on the BBC One soap from 2010 to 2018 – was reportedly the subject of an approach from the show’s bosses four months ago.
This came ahead of her successful I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! stint, but she is said to have decided against heading back to Albert Square.
Read more: Jacqueline Jossa ‘cancels’ all TV interviews post-I’m A Celeb win
A pal told The Sun Online: “Jacqueline had a few conversations with bosses about a big return four months before she entered the jungle.
“After weighing up her options she just felt the money wasn’t enough compared to what she could earn elsewhere.”
She is said to be keen to try her hand at other projects after leaving the soap in February 2018.
The pal added: “She loves EastEnders and thoroughly enjoyed her time on the show but Jacqueline is a very talented young woman and not just when it comes to acting.
“There are lots of strings to her bow and there’s lots of things she wants to try, which she can’t do when she’s on EastEnders.”
It’s said Jacqueline could make around £1 million next year from various fashion deals and Instagram posts after she won the latest I’m A Celebrity series on Sunday (December 8).
She just felt the money wasn’t enough compared to what she could earn elsewhere.
Just a month before she bowed out the soap, the star admitted she was glad the door was being left open for a potential return one day, but she was keen to try out other things.
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Speaking exclusively to BANG Showbiz, she said: “That’s the hardest part to be honest with you – leaving the character and my friends.
“Yeah I can go back, that is an option but I would like to go into some other things.
“I’d love to do definitely some more drama, I wouldn’t say no to a film, maybe even some theatre.”
Lauren left EastEnders after she and her sister, Abi Branning fell off the roof of The Vic while trying to stop their dad, Max, from jumping.
Abi died in the episodes over the festive season in 2017/18, but Lauren survived and decided to leave Walford with her son, Louis, for a fresh start.
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