EastEnders' icon Rita Simons announces engagement to former co-star in loved up snaps

Rita Simons has announced that she's engaged to her former co-star Ben Harlow (Image: Instagram)

EastEnders star Rita Simons has announced she is officially engaged to her former co-star Ben Harlow.

The BBC soap star, 47, took to social media to share the joyous news online alongside a string of loved-up snaps with her future husband.

She simply captioned the post: "....so this happened!" as she showed off the dazzling ring on her finger. The pair struggled to hide their excitement as they posed together in their kitchen, reports The Mirror.

It didn't take long before her famous friends and loyal legion of fans flooded to the comments to pass on their well wishes online. Hollyoaks star Steph Waring penned: "Congratulations to you both! " as a fan gushed: "Awwww AMAZING! ! ! Hugest congratulations both."

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Another chimed in with: "Yes to this! ! ! Congrats to you both" as Blue's Duncan James echoed: "Love u so much! Congrats to the both of u! Jadore ! !"

READ MORE: EastEnders fans can buy discount tickets to Tracy-Ann Oberman's West End show

The couple have been dating since 2020 (Image: Instagram)

Rita, who has been lighting up the stage with Ben since they met during Legally Blonde the Musical in 2017, has previously praised him as "the loveliest man on the planet".

She also credits her current happiness for highlighting the "mess" she was in before she met the actor. Prior to her romance with Ben, Rita was married to Theo Silverston.

But after 14 years together, the pair decided to get a divorce which led her to battle depression and insomnia among other challenges.

Rita's life spiralled into a tumultuous period filled with stress, pressure, and heartbreak, leading to a nervous breakdown which she later described as "one of the worst times" of her life. Speaking candidly to OK! magazine, Rita recounted the harrowing experience.

She told the outlet: "I was physically ill every other week and I lost loads of weight." The mother-of-two detailed the gruelling routine of performing in the West End show, Everybody's Talking About Jamie.

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She recalled: "Every night I would go on stage having just had some fraught conversation with Theo, and later on having just received legal letters. And I would just cry, go on stage, come off, cry and respond."

Rita also opened up about her battle with insomnia and its impact on her mental health. She went on: "I also had terrible insomnia for about a year. When I'm unhappy, my sleep is the first thing to go and then the knock-on is the depression and anxiety."

In 2019, while acting in 'The House On Cold Hill', Rita reached a breaking point. She shared with The Sun a particularly dark moment: "My mind went to some major dark places," Rita confessed.

"There were some stairs on the set that I came on stage on, quite high at the top. And I thought I could just chuck myself down. I didn't want to die. I just wanted to hurt myself enough to go to hospital and have someone look after me. That was scary."

EastEnders' icon Rita Simons announces engagement to former co-star in loved up snaps

EastEnders' icon Rita Simons announces engagement to former co-star in loved up snaps

EastEnders' icon Rita Simons announces engagement to former co-star in loved up snaps

EastEnders' icon Rita Simons announces engagement to former co-star in loved up snaps

EastEnders' icon Rita Simons announces engagement to former co-star in loved up snaps