Cheat: EastEnders star Neil McDermott and his wife Michelle who he cheated in with a 16-year-old girl just weeks after Michelle gave birth to their first childHe plays the moody, independent and long-suffering estranged husband of scheming minx Janine Butcher.
But EastEnders star Neil McDermott, who plays Ryan Malloy in the soap, is at the centre of his drama this weekend after he admitted to cheating on his wife with a 16-year-old girl.
According to reports, the 30-year-old actor slept with the teenage fan just weeks after his wife Michelle had given birth to their first child, daughter Arabella.
And yesterday, he issued an apology in a desperate bid to save his three-and-a-half-year marriage.
Speaking to the Sunday Mirror, he said: 'I am so sorry: To my wife, daughter and our family for this betrayal. I love my wife and family dearly and I’m distraught that my life is now in tatters due to a stupid mistake.
'I’ve caused heartache to those I love most which I deeply regret. This was a one-off incident but I’ve let myself down as well as my wife and everyone who knows me. Now I just need privacy and time to do all I can to rebuild my family.'
His infidelity is believed to have happened last weekend when he made a personal appearance at the Glam nightclub in Stockton-on-Tees.
And according to a friend of the teenage girl, who has not been named, Neil, 30, started 'eyeing her up' as he signed autographs and took part in a Blind Date-style game.
The girl told her friend: 'Ryan just started staring at me through the crowd. It was so obvious that another girl, who I didn’t even know, turned to me and said, "He keeps looking at you".
In character: Neil as Ryan Malloy with his on-screen wife Janine Butcher played by Charlie Brooks'I was a bit starstruck to be honest as I love EastEnders and I’ve always really fancied Neil’s character Ryan.'
After paying £5 to have her picture taken with him, he kept mentioning to her which hotel he was staying at, and later met her at the hotel bar around 4am.
After having a drink together, they went to his hotel room and had sex but did not swap numbers in the morning and have not seen each other since.
Last night one of his friends said: 'Neil is absolutely devastated. He cannot believe he has been so stupid. This is not the way he usually behaves and he won’t make a mistake like this again.'
Neil met wife Michelle at London’s Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts when he was 19 and she was 18.
They have been together ever since and married at Airth Castle, Stirlingshire, in 2007 and their daughter was born last month.
And his betrayal comes two weeks after they took part in a glossy Hello! magazine shoot to show off six-week-old Arabella Betsy.
The doting father – whose character Ryan had a baby with Stacey Slater despite being in a relationship with Janine Butcher – posed for a series of heartwarming family snaps with Michelle and their child.
In EastEnders, he fathered a child with Stacey Slater, played by Lacey Turner, and married Janine three months later he married Janine who poisoned him and held him captive after finding out about the affair.
McDermott's agent was not available for comment today.
Soap family: Neil as Ryan with Stacey Branning, played by Lacey Turner, and their daughter LilySource:dailymail