EastEnders actor Neil McDermott leaves martial home without his wedding ring

By
Sarah Fitzmaurice
Last updated at 10:59 AM on 1st March 2011

It’s over: Neil McDermott was seen leaving his home in Surrey carrying bin bags of his belongs and was not wearing his wedding ring

His character in EastEnders cheated on wife Janine before moving out of
their shared flat and it seems that life is very much imitating art for
actor Neil McDermott.

The 30-year-old actor was seen carrying bin bags from his marital home without his wedding ring on yesterday, following revelations that he slept with a 16-year-old just weeks after wife Michelle had given birth to their first child.

Neil, who plays Ryan Malloy on the soap, issued an apology on through a Sunday paper in a last-ditch attempt to hold their relationship together. 

But his desperate plea appears to have fallen on deaf ears and he
moved a number of his belongings from the home in Sutton yesterday,
according to reports.

McDermott slept with fan Chloe Peebles
in a hotel room two weeks ago as his 29-year-old wife was at home with
their newborn daughter Arabella Betsy.

An emotional-looking Neil would not comment as his exited his Surrey home but simply shook his head, according to The Sun.

His infidelity occurred when he made a personal appearance at the Glam nightclub in Stockton-on-Tees.

In happier times: Neil McDermott and his wife Michelle who he cheated on with a 16-year-old girl just weeks after she gave birth to their first child

And according to a friend of the teenage girl, who has not been named, Neil, 30, started ‘eyeing her up’ as he signed autographs and took part in a Blind Date-style game.

The girl told her friend: ‘Ryan just started staring at me through the crowd. It was so obvious that another girl, who I didn’t even know, turned to me and said, “He keeps looking at you”.

‘I was a bit starstruck to be honest as I love EastEnders and I’ve always really fancied Neil’s character Ryan.’

The girl paid £5 to have her picture taken with him, he kept mentioning to her which hotel he was staying at, and later met her at the hotel bar around 4am.

After having a drink together, they went to his hotel room and had sex
but did not swap numbers in the morning and have not seen each other
since.

But as reports of the encounter emerged Neil made a desperate plea apologising to the weekend papers.

Speaking to the Sunday Mirror, he said: ‘I am so sorry: To my wife, daughter and our family for this betrayal. I love my wife and family dearly and I’m distraught that my life is now in tatters due to a stupid mistake.

‘I’ve caused heartache to those I love most which I deeply regret. This was a one-off incident but I’ve let myself down as well as my wife and everyone who knows me. Now I just need privacy and time to do all I can to rebuild my family.’

As the reports emerged a friend of the actor said: ‘Neil is absolutely devastated. He cannot believe he has been so stupid. This is not the way he usually behaves and he won’t make a mistake like this again.’

Neil met wife Michelle at London’s Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts when he was 19 and she was 18.

They have been together ever since and married at Airth Castle, Stirlingshire, in 2007 and their daughter was born last month.

Chloe told The Sun: ‘I felt terrible. I didn’t want to be a home-wrecker.’

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