Max Bowden was left ‘burnt out’ by his Ben Mitchell storylines (Image: BBC)Get daily celeb exclusives and behind the scenes house tours direct to your inboxMore Newsletters SubscribePlease enter a valid emailSomething went wrong, please try again later.More NewslettersWe use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. More infoThank you for subscribing!We have more newslettersShow me See OurPrivacy Notice See OurPrivacy Notice×Group 28 Get daily celeb exclusives and behind the scenes house tours direct to your inboxInvalid emailSomething went wrong, please try again later.Sign UpNo thanks, closeWe use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. More info×Group 28Thank you for subscribing!We have more newslettersShow MeNo thanks, closeSee our
Privacy NoticeEastEnders star Max Bowden revealed the reason he left the BBC soap, confessing he was struggling with the tough filming commitments. In December last year, it was confirmed that the actor was leaving the role after more more than four years. Max had faced a number of tough storylines, including filming gut-wrenching scenes with Danielle Harold, whose character Lola Pearce died from a brain tumour. The 29-year-old actor – who played Ben Mitchell, the son of Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth) and Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) between 2019 and 2024 until his character got imprisoned in America – has now confessed that he opted to say goodbye to the BBC soap opera because he was “very tired” after doing covering emotionally gruelling stories over “nearly 600 episodes.” Over the last couple of years Ben Mitchell has been faced with a number of dramatic ordeals, such as his eating disorder and sexual assault.
Max Bowden no longer plays Ben Mitchell
(Image: BANG Showbiz.)
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Opening up about calling it quits on the The Lewis Nicholls Show, Max said: “The important thing was my time was ready. I was very tired, and like I said, I wasn’t me, I wasn’t.” The Max sat in front of you today was kind of a ghost, and they recognised that I recognised that.” Admitting that he was battling with fatigue, he added: “I did nearly six hundred episodes in five years, which is a hell of a lot, and it was time for a rest. The character was tired, I was tired, they [the producers] were probably tired of me being tired.”
Taking part in Lola Pearce’s brain tumour storyline was tough for Max
(Image: BBC/Jack Barnes/Kieron McCarron)
“From an honest perspective, I think yeah, a lot of it was that I needed to go for a bit. I needed to go work on me, get myself back to a place of really good mental health, focus on healing and also be a dad.” Max also admitted that playing out the recent storyline which saw Ben’s ex-girlfriend Lola Pearce – with whom his character has daughter Lexi (Isabella Brown) – succumb to a brain tumour had taken its toll on him as a performer. He continued: “It laid a lot out on the table, and it exposed me to a lot of vulnerability which probably at the time I didn’t navigate well. It was a tough old time, but you know what, I’m a hell of a lot stronger for it. That was definitely the hardest period of my professional life.”Story SavedYou can find this story in  My Bookmarks.Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right.Follow OK! MagazineFacebookTwitterCommentMore OnEastEndersGillian TaylforthPhil Mitchell
