'Enders star 'was a naughty girl'

EastEnders actress Rita Simons has admitted that she was once "a real naughty girl".

The star, who plays fun-loving Roxy Mitchell in the soap, said she used to be quite similar to her on-screen alter-ego.

"In many ways, we're very alike," she told the Sunday Mirror. "I used to be a party girl like her. But I do like to think I'm a little bit classier."

Simons added that her period of being a "wild-child" ended when she met her husband Theo 12 years ago. "It was so refreshing, after being a real naughty girl, to find myself with someone lovely and sweet and gentle. I just adored him from the minute we met."