Hollyoaks’ Rita Simons opens up on struggling to live away from her children after moving to join soap

HOLLYOAKS star Rita Simons has opened up on her struggles on living away from her children after moving up north to join the Channel 4 soap.

The actress joined the show this year as character Marie Fielding.

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Rita made her debut on ITVBe's Drama Queens last night and spoke about how she had to relocate to Liverpool to be apart of Hollyoaks.

The soap star admitted that Marie's current storyline of trying to repair her relationship with her sons has made her think of her own kids.

Rita confessed on the show: "Because I've battled so much with moving up here away from my kids, every time Tyler or Rory says to me 'crap mum' or 'you're rubbish' it hurts.

"I would never want either or my kids to say that to me."

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Rita's alter-ego Marie is mum to Joel Dexter (Rory Douglas-Speed), Abe (Tyler Conti) and Arlo Fielding (Dan Hough).

In real life Rita shares her daughters Jaimee and Maiya with her ex husband Theo Silveston.

The former couple split in 2018 and divorced two years later.

Rita's boyfriend Ben Harlow also moved to Liverpool with her.

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The former EastEnders star also split the beans on how they became a couple.

Rita and Ben met seven years ago while working on a stage production together, and were mates before they started dating.

She confessed: "We were mates and then a couple of years later he asked me out on a date.

"And we've been together ever since."

Back in July last year it was revealed that Rita was joining Hollyoaks.

Exclusive pictures obtained by The Sun show the star in her first scenes.

A source said: “Rita’s casting is a stroke of genius.

“She’s got the acting chops to pull off anything the writers throw at her and she’s hugely popular with fans.

“Details of who she’s playing are a closely guarded secret but she’s set to cause chaos when she arrives in the village.”

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Rita is best known for playing Roxy Mitchell in BBC's EastEnders.