EastEnders fans ‘shaken to their core’ as Patsy Palmer reveals totally different real name
EastEnders’ Patsy Palmer is a firm favourite on the snap playing Bianca Jackson but the actress was born with a different name - and fans have been left stunned at the revelation
Patsy Pamer is an EastEnders legend – but it turns out she has a totally different real name.
The actress, 51, shot to fame on the BBC soap playing loudmouth Bianca Jackson – making her debut in 1993. And it’s fair to say she’s become one of the soap’s most iconic stars.
Patsy ended up quitting in 1999, but made her epic return in 2008, with the rest of her new clan, including Whitney Dean (Shona McGarty). She left again in 2014 only to return in 2019 for a brief stint before quitting once more.
However, over in the soap recently, Patsy made her epic return as part of a gripping Whitney storyline. In episodes this week, pregnant Whitney and beau Zack visited Bianca in Milton Keynes after she split up with her boyfriend.
But it turns out Patsy isn’t the actresses real name – and the discovery has left fans gobsmacked. Back in 2019, she appeared on This Morning.
Patsy, who now lives in the States, revealed that in the country, she calls herself Julie Merkell, her married name, when meeting new people because they don’t know who she is. The actress, who was born Julie Anne Harris, said: “They [fans] don’t know me [in America] and I have another name. My name is Julie really, so I thought, ‘I’m going to get back to calling myself my real name.’
“But I actually get so confused myself that sometimes I’ll say Patsy and sometimes I’ll say Julie. So now in Malibu, they call me Patsy Julie. ‘Julie Anne Harris was my name, my married name is Julie Merkell’.”
Fans at the time were left stunned at Patsy’s revelation. Rushing over to X, then known as Twitter, one person said: “Love Julie aka Patsy! Such a warm, down-to-earth woman!l
Someone else proclaimed: “Well I didn’t know that! Patsy Palmer’s real name is Julie!” A third quipped: “Wow Patsy Palmer is still a sort, I’m still confused by the name thing tho. Is Patsy just a stage name then?” Another viewer chimed in and penned: “Patsy Palmer is in fact called Julie and I’m shaken to my core.” A fifth agreed and wrote: “Patsy Palmer’s real name is Julie. MIND BLOWN.”
