EastEnders fans were utterly heartbroken when Tina Carter (Luisa Bradshaw-White) was murdered by domestic abuser turned-serial killer, Gray Atkins (Toby-Alexander Smith), and dumped in Argee Bhajee.
Chaotically immature, responsibility-avoidant and always dressed as loudly as humanly possible, Tina quite often functioned as a garishly bright light among the darkness within the lineage of her clan.
Her double act with sister Shirley (Linda Henry) went some way toward mending those with a deep seated longing for the glory days of Shirl ‘n Hev.
She was also deeply involved in deeper storylines, including an abusive relationship with girlfriend, Fiona Mackintosh (Rebecca Scroggs) and balancing caring for her Alzheimer’s-suffering mum, Sylvie (Linda Marlowe), and a burgeoning relationship with Walford legend, Sonia Fowler (Natalie Cassidy).
Later plots saw her accidentally running over Janet Mitchell (Grace) and feuding with Stuart Highway (Ricky Champ), finally being framed for an attack on Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt) before her grisly demise, with her skeletal remains later being discovered by Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden).
Luisa had a long and varied career pre-Enders, with roles in Birds of a Feather, Bad Girls, London’s Burning and Holby City.
After departing Albert Square, she called time on her acting career after a series of mental health difficulties and has embraced a brand new calling after finding peace.
Describing her time within the acting industry as a way of channelling her ‘big feelings’, she took to Instagram recently to reveal that suppressing those same feelings ultimately led to a period of mental unwell.
‘Hey to all new people finding their way to this account. This is me. Luissa. I have very big feelings,’ she began an Instagram post with a warm picture of her smiling.
‘I used to be an actor so I had a place to put those big feelings: but it didn’t feel like where I was supposed to be.
‘I also tried to suppress those big feelings and that led to a serious mental illness, psychiatric hospitals and something I nearly didn’t survive. I now feel like I have found my space in the world. I don’t try to hide my big feelings I know they are powerful indicators for how to live my life fully. I know that when I go in deep to the big feelings I experience, with a feeling of curiosity and love, I emerge out the other side with new wisdom with new insights and feeling so much more self love and clarity about who I am.
‘I am not afraid of the dark.
‘I now create musical journeys for free form dance and Breathwork ceremonies using my big feelings. I listen deeply to spirit to create waves of music to help me express all I feel about life and the life I have lived and all that wants to move through my body.
‘My favourite thing about my life now is that I have found people like me who want to come and dance and breathe to feel all this too. And somehow they move thru some of the same feelings that I have been experiencing. I’m so grateful that I have access to all these big, wild emotions.
‘If you would like to come and experience and explore your own deep feelings you would be so welcome.
‘Sometimes it takes a while to find them…and sometimes they are there in the discomfort of just turning up new to something, raw and out of your comfort zone.’
