Former EastEnders star Kacey Ainsworth appeared on Loose Women today and moved the panellists as she opened up about being ‘groomed’.
The actress recalled how she was abused by an older actor when she was just a child – “slightly older than eight”.
Kacey, now 48, explained: “I was starting puberty. They were touching areas that were growing. That felt odd and weird.”
She recalled how the abuse had begun with tickling and progressed to the attacker taking her off to quiet areas, where he would touch her over her clothes.
The new panellist admitted she didn’t know what to say or who to tell and the abuse continued until a member of the production crew intervened.
Viewers were full of praise for the Little Mo actress opening up about her experiences.
Kacey also opened up about suffering from an eating disorder when she was in her twenties.
“My partner and best friend told me I was too thin,” she explained.
“He threw my running trainers in a skip and my friend threw out all my tiny clothes… She said, ‘You’re 28 years old, you’re not 11.'”
“In my eyes it was: to be successful, I needed to be this certain size.”
She confessed to fearing that joining EastEnders would trigger the condition again.
“I was worried that I would tip back over again because I couldn’t control anything else,” she said. “Storylines or whatever.”