Ever since Cindy Beale (Michelle Collins) returned from the dead in EastEnders last year, fans have been desperate to know exactly what life was like for her away from Albert Square.
In tonight’s (February 26) episode, EastEnders dropped a hint at how bad things got for Cindy during her witness protection, during a scene that saw her discuss Denise Fox’s (Diane Parish) current situation with Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt).
Last week, Denise was sectioned because of her psychosis, leaving her family devastated.
In more recent scenes, Cindy quizzed Eve Unwin (Heather Peace) on Denise’s condition, though Eve soon deflected the conversation, assuming Cindy was just hunting for gossip.
Later, Cindy made it clear to Ian that she had only asked Eve about Denise because she was genuinely concerned, and admitted to having been in a similar headspace before.
‘You know, you saw me at rock bottom,’ she reminded him.
Though little is known about what happened for most of Cindy’s 25 years away from Albert Square, we know enough to see why Cindy may have found herself suffering a mental health crisis.
Cindy was first put into witness protection after giving birth to Cindy Jnr in 1998, having given the police information about her cell mate in exchange for her freedom.
Living under the name Rose, she met George Knight (Colin Salmon), and the pair started a family together.
However, in 2014, Cindy learnt of the murder of her daughter, Lucy Beale, and headed back to Albert Square in her grief, breaking her witness protection cover.
Because of this, Cindy was unable to return to her new family, fearing that they would be in danger if she did.
Several years later, she finally reunited with former lover Ian, which we can only assume was when she was at ‘rock bottom’, as she pointed out.
Cindy and Ian’s conversation about Denise was interrupted by her husband Jack Branning (Scott Maslen), who was furious to hear that she was the centre of their gossip.
As he asked if Cindy had any idea what Denise was going through, Cindy replied that she ‘had some idea’.
With Cindy seemingly having had a similar experience to Denise, could we be set to see her open up about what she went through in a bid to help Denise and her family?
And could we be set to find out more about how Cindy and Ian came to find each other again?
