Former EastEnders star Maisie Smith said she’s struggled with her confidence following her exit from the BBC soap.
The 21-year-old actress first undertook the role of Tiffany Butcher when she was just six years old. She went on to play the character for 13 years, leaving in 2014 before returning in 2018 and leaving again in 2021.
Smith has now admitted that playing the fan favourite for over a decade had a massive impact on her and her identity as it’s all she’s ever known.
Speaking on Channel 4’s Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins, she admitted: “I was on Eastenders for 13 years, which was all I can remember.
“I sometimes think I’m more comfortable being Tiffany than I am being Maisie.
“The good thing about being an actress is that I know how to look confident. In reality I have no idea what I’m doing.”
The Strictly Come Dancing star also explained that people often have misconceptions about her before getting to know her.
She continued: “I just assume you just take one look at me and think, ‘Oh, cocky little Essex girl’, which is true, but there’s a lot more to me that people don’t know.”
Later on in the episode, Smith was overcome with emotion as she recalled her childhood and the effect being around adults for much of her youth had on her, explaining she “struggled” to speak as people would always talk over her.
She shared: “I’ve struggled, sort of, speaking. And I’ve had, not a stutter but I just could go blank and words wouldn’t come out and I think the more that happened, the more people would just, sort of, talk over me.”
The TV star admitted she felt it was “just useless and pointless” for her to try and engage in conversations, so she gave up as she was unable to “find a single word.”
She first joined as a seven year old playing Bianca Jackson’s daughter Tiffany Butcher.
The tearful actress added: “I found it pretty hard and I just hated the person I was for a long time.
“The reason I worked so hard and pushed myself was because the one thing I can’t control is the thing I’m most scared of.”
Amid her heartfelt conversation, Smith admitted that part of the reason she signed up to the series was to find her inner strength, and over her “feelings of fear”.
“I’d love to overcome these feelings of fear,” she shared. “I want to be this strong person that I try to be.”
