MOST celebrities absolutely love the limelight – but not Lacey Turner.
In fact, the 38 year old, who rose to fame playing Stacey Slater in EastEnders, is possibly the most reluctant celeb you’ll ever meet.

Lacey Turner opens up about Strictly, hating being famous, and whether she will ever return to EastEnders Credit: David Titlow

Lacey says: ‘I don’t really want to be a celebrity’ Credit: David Titlow
“I don’t really want to be a celebrity,” she admits. “If I had it my way, I would go to work and go home! I don’t like having my photo taken and I think red carpets can feel a bit like a meat market. I am a very rubbish celebrity. I’m terrible at it.”
Lacey, who’d been at the BBC1 soap since 2004, before leaving last year, is considered one of her generation’s best soap actresses. In fact, she’s so adored by the public, she’s scooped more than 40 awards – which is why it’s so surprising to learn she actually asked EastEnders bosses to stop entering her for gongs.
“I couldn’t bear it when I was nominated,” she says. “Even worse was actually winning them. You’ve got to walk up those stairs in a fancy dress and heels I don’t usually wear. I like Crocs!
“Then there’s all these people wanting you to give a speech. It’s terrifying. I don’t like being the centre of attention, I hate the thought of standing up there and giving a speech. I don’t want everyone looking at me. I used to dread it and pray that it wasn’t my name read out.

“I asked the bosses to please not put me up for any more awards and I meant it. I was always super-flattered but I’ve never thought anything I’ve done is award-worthy.”
Her dislike of being centre stage means it’s all the more surprising she has signed up to be part of this year’s Strictly Come Dancing.
She’s going to be slapping on the fake tan and sequins in the name of impressing her kids, Dusty, seven, Trilby, five, and 19-month-old Gipsy.
“I’m so excited, but worried. I don’t know why I said yes to it this year. But my kids love it. They watch it every year and they recreate the dances. Although, it normally ends in a punch-up as one of their feet is going the wrong way. Dusty does not like it when someone’s out of time!” she laughs.

“As I’m getting older, I’m getting braver. I’m trying to do all the things I’m scared of, because you do get to a point in your life where you think: ‘Right, I need to put on some big-girl pants now and show my gals and my son that you can do anything.’ So that’s where I am.
“I did a marathon a few years ago and that was a crazy thing to do. I can tick that off now. I won’t be doing another one! And now it’s Strictly. Then I’m sure my stupid brain will come up with something else for me to do.

“Everyone keeps saying: ‘You’re the bookies’ favourite,’ but I think: ‘How do you know? You haven’t seen me dance!’”
Perhaps the punters are hoping she has an edge, as she started dance lessons aged three at Lenvon Stars of Tomorrow Performing Arts School in Edgware, north London.
But Lacey isn’t convinced it’s giving her the advantage they think it will. She is keen to point out that, while she did tap and modern, she’s never performed Latin or ballroom.
“I’ve completely forgotten how to dance,” she says. “I’ve not done it since I was 13, and it’s a completely different type of dancing. The most I’ve done since then was put my hands up in the air and point my finger with a little side-step.”
It’s not just the steps she’s worried about remembering – Lacey is also feeling some trepidation about the barely there costumes and raunchy moves.
“Oh, it’s terrifying,” she says. “All of it is both terrifying and exciting, but I shall be creating a character and using my inner Stacey Slater on the dance floor. It’s the only way I know how.”

Lacey with her husband Matt and children Dusty, Trilby and baby Gipsy Credit: Instagram/laceyturner

Max Branning and Stacey in that affair story line

Lacey would admit that having played the feisty market trader for more than 17 years, some of her own personality has seeped in – and it’s not surprising, as her own life practically mirrors that of a Walford character.
She grew up in Borehamwood, so close to the Albert Square set that she could hear the director call “Cut!” from her house. Her whole family would gather around the TV to watch the much-loved soap, and, as a teenager, she worked down the market at the weekend. Lacey even jokes that her family’s rows were like something from the soap.
“When the Slaters arrived on screen, we would say: ‘Oh, they are a bit like us.’ It’s funny how my life has gone full circle.”
Lacey even credits her maternal grandmother Sylvie Allen, known affectionately as Nanny Chick, for inspiring Stacey’s feisty personality.
“My nan is very old-school East End,” she says. “Even now, she leaves her front door unlocked, or if someone annoys her in Tesco, she will have a go about it. I’m always saying: ‘You can’t do that any more, you might get stabbed.’ She’s from a different age.
“If we ever had a problem at school where someone was being horrible to us, my nan would bang on the headteacher’s door. That’s very much the part of Stacey that I channel.
“She is such a typical grandma who doesn’t behave like a grandma. She’s brilliantly naughty and very difficult to deal with! But I love her for it.”
Lacey opens up all about her road to stardom and landing her role on EastEnders in her new book, Gold Dust.
It isn’t a traditional autobiography – instead it focuses on all the women who have helped make her the person she is, from her mum and sisters to her adopted Albert Square family and the matriarchs on set who shaped her.
It’s jam-packed with tales about working alongside legends including Barbara Windsor (who played Queen Vic landlady Peggy Mitchell) and June Brown (who played Dot Cotton).

“I did think: ‘How can I write a book? I don’t have anything to talk about,’” Lacey says. “But then the penny dropped and I thought: ‘My life has been so heavily guided by women and I talk about them all the time,’ so it was the perfect subject. I enjoyed sharing the stories about them so much.”
While the book is heavily female-focused, one man does feature – her husband, barber shop-owner Matt Kay, 38, who she has been with since she was 15.

The star as Stacey with Martin Fowler Credit: BBC/Jack Barnes/Kieron McCarron

Lacey winning a British Soap Award in 2016 Credit: Shutterstock
“It’s crazy,” she explains. “I don’t really know life without him. He’s great to put up with all these women. There’s a lot of girls in my family. It’s nice he has our son Trilby.”
Having her childhood sweetheart in her life, as well as the same set of friends, is something Lacey credits with keeping her grounded when her career took off.
“I don’t like change very much and I’ve been so lucky to have had such lovely relationships when I was younger that are still so precious to me. I guard them with my life. They understood how my life was changing, but there was no chance of me going down the wrong path as they would have quickly wound me back in,” she says.
But while she found the man of her dreams early in life, she is more critical of Stacey’s choice of men.
“Stacey is the friend I know everything about,” she says. “But sometimes I would get a script and read it and go: ‘Oh no, not like this. Why, Stacey, why?’
“I think the biggest thing for me was the Kush thing [her character had a secret one-night fling with Kush Kazemi while married to Martin Fowler and fell pregnant with son Arthur]. She’s terrible at picking men, and if she does pick a good one, she seems to ruin it.”

Of course, one of the most iconic EastEnders story lines ever was Stacey’s affair with her partner Bradley’s dad, Max Branning, which was revealed to the whole family during Christmas Day dinner in 2007.
“That was crazy,” she recalls. “We never knew it was going to be that big. In those days, it was quite unusual to play a story out over a year. For me, it took me back to being little when the best thing about Christmas, after presents, was sitting down to watch EastEnders – and I was in the middle of the story line.”

Lacey says: ‘The world’s changed, and how people watch TV has changed’ Credit: David Titlow

The star is all smiles as she poses with the Jattvibe’s Kelly Allen Credit: Sophia Callmer
There have been some hard-hitting story lines too, including when Stacey was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2009 and batted postpartum psychosis in 2016.
“I was so pleased to see that open up conversations and push mental health to the forefront of discussions,” she says.
“The first time the writers said about bipolar, I’d never heard of it. As an actress, it was a brilliant experience for me, because you don’t get the opportunity to go to those places very often.
“But it was also incredibly draining, not least because I went very method. I’m not a trained actor, so I was in the zone and then frightened to come out of it, so I’d try and stay in it.”
She adds: “When it came to the postpartum story line, I knew I couldn’t do it like that again, because it was so exhausting. But it was different because I had James [Bye, who played Martin Fowler] to act opposite.”
Like countless fans, Lacey is still devastated that Martin was killed off during the 40th anniversary live episode last year.

“People really believed in Stacey and Martin’s chemistry,” she explains. “I’ll never get over it that they killed him off. I’m heartbroken as a viewer. Even now, if I walk down the street people say: ‘That was terrible.’ They were pretty special together.”
There has been something of an exodus of fan favourites, including Kellie Bright’s Linda Carter after 13 years, and Aaron Thiara, who plays Ravi Gulati.
“It’s really sad,” Lacey says. “I like Ravi on the show. And Kellie’s hanging up her pink flamingos, too. I always hope they will come back. They’re part of the furniture.”
Does she worry about the future of the show, competing against streaming giants?
“The world’s changed, and how people watch TV has changed,” she says.
“Some things for the better and some for the worse. You have to go with the times, otherwise you’ll get left behind.
“I do miss when I was younger and there were five TV channels, and you waited for the show every night. My nan still does that. Then you would rewatch the whole omnibus on a Jattvibeday because it was the only thing on.”
Last October when Lacey quit the soap, Stacey went to live in Brazil with her brother Sean, played by Robert Kazinsky. But with news of his imminent return, viewers are hoping it means Stacey is on a plane back to Walford, too.
“I’m taking a lovely break at the moment,” she says. “I’m a stay-at-home mum, which is not for the faint-hearted. But it’s been so lovely, because I’ve always worked.
“I think you get to an age where you think: ‘What actually matters?’ I’m almost 40 and I’m quite enjoying getting older, but the kids are growing up so quickly. I’m lucky enough to be in a position where I can say: ‘I’m going to spend some time with my kids, run the house and feed the chickens.’ I’m loving it.

“I’m glad they didn’t kill Stacey off. I’d be heartbroken if they did. I love that job, I really do. I love the people, I love the show. I’m a big fan and I still watch it.
“It’s such a massive part of my life. I don’t think I could ever let it go and say goodbye forever.”

Gold Dust: My Life (So Far) With The Women Who Shaped Me by Lacey Turner (£22, Viking) is out October 22.

What was the last. . .

Film you watched?
The Devil Wears Prada 2 – although, I don’t think I’ve actually seen the first one!
Thing you bought?
I got some gym leggings.
Podcast you listened to?
Natalie Cassidy’s Life With Nat.
Time you cried?
The other day, seven weeks into the summer holidays. The kids were crying, so I cried, too.
Person you texted?
I texted Matt as he’s got all the kids, saying: “I really hope you have a nice day. Don’t lose anyone.”