Rita Simons is hoping for an EastEnders family reunion at her wedding
Rita Simons and her fiancé Ben Harlow are getting married this year - and some of her 'EastEnders' on-screen family are set to attend the wedding.
Rita Simons has revealed when she is getting married – and is set to reunite with some of her immediate 'EastEnders' family at the "glitzy" bash.
The 48-year-old actress will tie the knot with her producer fiancé Ben Harlow in September, and she is set to invite some of her on-screen BBC One soap family - sister Samantha Womack (Ronnie Mitchell), dad Larry Lamb (Archie Mitchell) and mum Glynis Barber (Glenda Mitchell)
Rita - whose Albert Square alter ego Roxy Mitchell was killed off along with Ronnie on New Year's Day in 2017 when they drowned in a hotel swimming pool - is quoted by Best magazine as saying: "We're getting married in September, but I'm not going to say dates or where, but we're very excited.
"Samantha Womack will be there, and I think Larry Lamb and Glynis Barber.
"Larry was my dad in the show, Glynis played my mum, and Samantha was my on-screen sister, Ronnie."
Rita and Ben got engaged in January after striking up a romance during a stage production of 'Legally Blonde The Musical' in 2020.
And despite keeping the details of their wedding plans a closely guarded secret, she revealed her twin daughters - Jaimee and Maiya, 18, whom the soap star had with her ex-husband, hairdresser Theo Silveston - will be her bridesmaids.
She said: "Yes, they will.
"It will be a very glitzy wedding."
Rita - who will not be wearing anything "conventional" at the wedding - split from Theo in 2020 after 14 years of marriage because they "grew apart" and never imagined she would be walking down the aisle again.
The 'Hollyoaks' actress admitted: "No, I really didn't, but then it just felt more and more right."
And she revealed that Jamiee kept badgering the smitten couple to get engaged because she "wanted to plan the wedding".
Rita continued: "It was my daughter, Jamiee, who was nagging that we should do it because she wanted to plan the wedding.
"She kept saying, 'Ben, you have to propose,' and then he did."
And Rita revealed Ben asked her dad and children before she knew about his intentions to get down on one knee.
She said: "He did call my dad and the girls to ask beforehand, and they all knew about it except me."
