EastEnders star Rita Simons is best known for her role as Roxy Mitchell in Albert Square but it turns out the actress also has a well-known relative

Rita Simons may be well-known for playing Roxy Mitchell in EastEnders but it appears that she has another claim to fame – a famous relative.

Her EastEnders character Roxy came back from the dead last year after she and her on-screen sister Ronnie Mitchell (played by Samantha Womack) were killed off. The sisters were fan favourites but met a heartbreaking end on January 1, 2017 when Roxy passed out in a swimming pool. Fans of EastEnders will recall how Ronnie dived in to try to save her but was pulled underwater by the weight of her wedding dress. In the end, both characters tragically drowned.

Rita’s exit from the series made room for her to compete in I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! in 2018. She also appeared in a low-budget thriller film The Krays: Dead Man Walking that same year. More recently, she made a return to soap operas. In 2023, Channel 4 announced that Rita would be joining the cast of hit series Hollyoaks. Producers teased: “Rita’s new character will certainly ruffle feathers and is set to stir the pot… Hollyoaks fans can expect plenty of fireworks.” The star is actually related to Lord Alan Sugar, made famous for the BBC competition series, The Apprentice. However, the pair are not blood relatives, as Lord Sugar is married to Rita’s aunt, Ann Simons.

The star is related to Lord Alan Sugar of The Apprentice. (Image: NurPhoto via Getty Images)

In a previous interview with the Mirror, Rita said he isn’t as intense as he comes across on the series. “He’s much nicer in real life,” she admitted. “He loves all his grandkids and loves family time. Yes he’s still straight talking, but he’s a lot kinder.” Rita was a part of the soap’s cast for 10 years, having joined in 2007 and departing in 2017. Unlike Ronnie, Roxy made two surprise reappearances on EastEnders even though she was dead – with her voice featuring in an episode in 2019 when Sean listened to an old message from her, while her ghost appeared in an episode in 2023.

The star joined Hollyoaks in the role of Marie in January this year. Marie is the mother of popular Hollyoaks character, Joel Dexter, played by Rory Douglas Speed. Speaking about joining the show, she said: “Marie’s got a lot of ties here, so I think there’s going to be quite a lot of trouble between quite a few characters, and you will just have to keep watching to see…”