EXCLUSIVE: EastEnders' star Danielle Harold played Lola Pearce for 12 years before her character died from a terminal brain tumour, prompting her to consider her own mortality
As Danielle Harold arrives at the studio for her fabulous OK! photoshoot, she’s marking the end of an era after spending more than a third of her life on the set of EastEnders.
Now, after departing the soap, Danielle, 31, has her sights set on great things – but admits she’s also feeling a little apprehensive about what the future holds. “My great-nanny was absolutely obsessed with EastEnders,” she laughs. “She used to pull her house phone out of the wall when it was on telly so it wouldn’t interrupt the show. But sometimes she wouldn’t plug it back in so we’d go round to check and she’d say, ‘Oh sorry, I took it out because EastEnders was on!’”
She’s also managed to avoid the darker side of social media – something few young stars can escape nowadays. While Danielle tells us she’s never been trolled, she’s got no intention of letting anyone’s opinion govern her choices going forward. But for now, Danielle is ready to return to acting, and looks at the likes of former Coronation Street stars Michelle Keegan and Suranne Jones as proof that there’s life after soaps.
Despite knowing for a year that her time on EastEnders was coming to end, Danielle admits she didn’t actively pursue other opportunities while Lola was still alive, because she wanted to give her character the ending she deserved. “My friends say my house is 50 shades of grey, I’m definitely a minimalist. I love Mrs Hinch’s style, and I love a bit of cleaning.”
“I’m definitely a hard worker. I really think if you want to get something, you have to work hard for it. I get a lot of messages asking how I got into acting, and all I can tell them is that you have to work for it and keep going.”
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