Letitia Dean, 52, who plays Sharon Mitchell on EastEnders has said that filming sex scenes with Danny Walters, 26, was “awkward”.
However, she hopes that it “stops older women feeling invisible”.
She has played Sharon on the BBC One soap for the past 35 years, and over this period has been involved in a number of scandals, including her infamous affair with Phil while she was still married to his brother Grant.
This week Letitia told Heat magazine that she is currently “living vicariously through [her] character”.
It was a little awkward to start with, but you just laugh your way through it, and I did wear my drawers.
During the interview, the actress shared a candid insight into her character’s affair with toyboy, Keanu Taylor, and why she feels that the storyline is empowering for older women.
Last year it was revealed that after an on-off affair with stepdaughter Louise’s boyfriend, Keanu, Sharon had fallen pregnant at 49 with his child, while Louise was also pregnant.
Read more: Lesbian affair for EastEnders’ Sharon Mitchell and Linda Carter?
Sharon has been married to Phil (Steve McFadden) since 2014, however, their relationship has been rocky.
When asked what her all-time favourite EastEnders moment was, Letitia described Sharongate, which occurred in 1994 when 25.3 million viewers tuned in to watch her taped confession that she had slept with her husband Grant’s brother, Phil.
Letitia is currently loving the storyline between her character and Keanu.
She admitted that her on-screen relationship had made many people envious, she said: “I get a lot of, “You lucky [bleep]!” And I was.”
She continued: “I’ve been very blessed with my young leading men.”
Read more: EastEnders fans predict Dennis Rickman Jr will die in soap’s 35th anniversary
As the actress reflected on her ‘steamiest’ scene with Danny, where they got hot and heavy on a kitchen table, she said: “With a leg up? Yes! I had to dig deep to remember what that was like, I can tell you…”
She continued: “It was a little awkward to start with, but you just laugh your way through it, and I did wear my drawers.”
Letitia also spoke about how it is empowering for women to see the chemistry that Sharon and Keanu share.
She said: “You don’t all have to look like Claudia Schiffer to have that happen, do you?”
She continued: “You hear a lot of women saying that they feel invisible as they get older. And it was nice trying to portray that situation without making it sleazy.”
Letitia also revealed that her next big storyline is Sharon having her baby.
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