EastEnders stars helped babysit Lacey Turner's youngest daughter on set
Some of Lacey Turner's EastEnders co-stars helped to look after her youngest daughter, Gipsy, while she filmed scenes for the BBC soap.
Lacey Turner's EastEnders co-stars took on babysitting duties for her youngest daughter while she filmed scenes for the BBC soap.
The Stacey Slater actress "smuggled" Gipsy on set just weeks after welcoming her with husband Matt Kay in January 2025, with colleagues, including Kellie Bright (Linda Carter), Laila Morse (Mo Harris) and Heather Peace (Eve Unwin) rallying around Lacey, 38, to help look after the tot.
She told the new issue of Closer magazine: "Gipsy was raised by the women of Walford.
"I went back to work quite quickly after having her and just took her along with me. I never asked permission; I just smuggled her in!
"Kellie Bright and Mo would hold her. Everyone knew her schedule, what time she had a bottle or when she started weaning.
"I'd come off set and ask, 'Where's my baby?' And someone would say, 'Oh, Heather has taken her down the high street!'
"It was so lovely, I never worried once."
Lacey admitted she gets advice about motherhood from Kellie, who has sons Freddie, 14, Gene, nine, and Rudy, five, with her husband, Paul Stocker.
The award-winning soap star told the new issue of Heat magazine: "She's had three children and works 12 hours a day, she's a powerhouse of a woman, and I just adore her."
Kellie, 50, Laila, 81, Heather, 51, and 55-year-old Jessie Wallace (Kat Slater) are more like family than co-stars to Lacey.
She said: "Heather stays at my house a lot. Big Mo is like another nan to me, in fact, I even call her 'nan' outside the show - and she always says about me, 'She's like me granddaughter!'
"Jessie Wallace and I are like sisters. I absolutely adore her, and we speak every day."
Lacey returned to EastEnders from maternity leave in February 2025 for her 42-year-old on-screen lover James Bye's exit as Martin Fowler, during the soap's 40th anniversary week.
But she left later that year to focus on being with Matt, their daughter Dusty, seven, and five-year-old son Trilby.
However, the entertainer is still on screens as she competes in the 2026 series of BBC's Strictly Come Dancing with her 34-year-old professional partner Vito Coppola.
And he would love to choreograph a routine to the EastEnders' theme tune, which 77-year-old Anita Dobson, who played Queen Vic landlady Angie Watts from 1985 until 1988, famously released as a single under the title Anyone Can Fall in Love, which became a number one hit in 1986.
At the Virgin Atlantic Attitude Awards earlier this month, BANG Showbiz asked Vito if a dance to the theme was in his plans.
He replied: "Of course, I love the EastEnders theme!
"I've started to keep up with EastEnders now. I've already met other people from EastEnders, but this is the year where I get to dance with an EastEnder. I am happy, I am excited, and I am grateful as well."
