Vera’s Brenda Blethyn opens up on her brother coming to her ‘rescue’ after heartbreak | TV & Radio | Showbiz & TV
The 76-year-old is best known for playing DCI Stanhope in the ITV series Vera since 2011. Before her successful acting career, she worked at a bank in London before moving to Ramsgate with her former footballer boyfriend Stanley.
Speaking with April Mcmahon at The University of Kent’s In Conversation event, the ITV actress touched on her personal life.
The host joked that her family must be quite “substantial” due to her mum being one of 15 children and Brenda being one of nine.
Laughing, the Vera star admitted she didn’t know how many of them there were in total as she told the crowd “there’s loads of them.”
The discussion quickly moved on to her love life in her youth before she got into acting and worked at a bank in London.
Speaking to April, she admitted: “I could have been the first WAG because I was engaged to a footballer who played for Crystal Palace.
“Of course, that was in the days when they weren’t earning a fortune, he probably got 50 quid a week, which to us then seemed a fortune.”
Brenda recalled how he then moved to Ramsgate and despite wanting to stay in London with her job at the bank, she followed him down there.
Although things took a turn for the worst as the ITV star revealed that after a week of being back something had happened and she didn’t want to know him anymore.
She said: “I think he found somebody else, I think that might be it!
“I was so upset, my brother Bill, he was at University College London at the time, he came straight down.”
The 76-year-old then recalled how he encouraged her to see if the job was still available at the bank, which after calling them, she discovered it was.
“Off I went back to London, he’s come to my rescue several times and he brought me a gown and took me to a ball with the Queen Mother.”
Touching on her heartbreak when speaking to the Indenpendent.ie, Brenda admitted she was physically ill after discovering her ex had found someone else.
She said: “I was only 17. I was walking along the street and I threw up. It was just so awful.”
Despite her break-up when she was young, the actress has since found love with second husband Michael Mayhew.
The pair decided to tie the knot back in 2010, three decades after they first got together in 1975.
Currently, Brenda is back in Northumberland filming the 12 series of the ITV crime drama.
There have been sightings of the actress shooting scenes alongside Kenny Doughty, who plays Aiden Healy in the show.
Wearing her iconic hat and green mack, the duo were seen having a tense conversation in a cafe, no doubt trying to solve the next mystery.
Vera is available to watch on the ITV Hub.
