OMG SHOCKING!!! Linda’s Max jealousy leads her to sleep with someone else in EastEnders

Poor Linda Carter (Kellie Bright). After losing her husband, EastEnders’ least-toxic man, Mick Carter (Danny Dyer), she’s found herself tangled up with it’s most-toxic man, Max Branning (Jake Wood), and we all know how that’s likely to go…

Linda and Max had an affair years ago, resulting in baby Annie Carter (Lois Hawkins), though she told everybody that then-husband Mick was the dad.

Max ultimately left without knowing he had another daughter when Linda rejected him in favour of making things work with Mick.

With Mick now presumed dead, Max’s return last year saw him learn the truth, despite Linda’s previous agreement with Max’s daughter, Lauren (Jacqueline Jossa) and brother, Jack (Scott Maslen) to keep the information secret.

Despite Max’s kidnap of Annie as he struggled to process the information, Linda decided Annie should have a relationship with her dad and agreed to co-parent with him.

As Max struggled to re-bond with his family after his homecoming, Linda became a firm and reliable source of support for him, even verbalising that she knows, in her core, that there’s a good man deep within Max, buried deeply beneath his scheming and devious veneer, though when he tried to throw the lips on her, she recoiled.

Things seemed to be improving after she convinced him that fleeing the Square again would do nothing but prove his naysayers rightm as she put aside her anger and, once again, proved to be a solid ally.

The spark was seemingly relit for both, despite Elaine Peacock’s (Harriet Thorpe) determination the keep them apart.

Though they shared a kiss, ultimately, Max’s secrecy over Linda’s son, Ollie Carter’s (Harry Farr) bullying ordeal at the hands of his own grandson, Louie Beale (Jake McNally) drove them apart, when Linda told him that he ‘made her sick’.

Max won back Linda’s trust when he stepped in to help the growing rift between her and her son, Johnny Carter (Charlie Suff), but when she went to find him later, intending to reveal her feelings, she found him getting hot and heavy with Cindy Beale (Michelle Collins).

Next week sees Linda’s jealousy over Max and Cindy’s burgeoning relationship intensify, though Grant Mitchell (Ross Kemp), with whom Linda recently allied with to maintain a close eye on Phil Mitchell’s (Steve McFadden) mental health, suggests she treats herself to a spot of pampering.

Continuing to support her, Grant later inspires Linda’s decision to sell her share of Fox & Hair, when she learns from Elaine that Johnny is having serious money trouble. When she offers him cash, though, he bites her head off, forcing Grant to step in again and give Johnny a proper Mitchell talking to.