Hollyoaks star Ali Bastian quits acting and moves to Ireland after 'tremendous losses'

Actress Ali Bastian, famed for her role in Hollyoaks has announced her departure from the acting industry and her relocation from the UK to Ireland. The star, who appeared as Becca Dean in the Channel 4 soap from 2001 to 2007, revealed she's moved overseas due to "major burn out" caused by life in London and challenges following her second pregnancy.

A poignant video shared on social media sees Ali bidding farewell to her London flat before documenting their journey to a new abode in Ireland. Accompanying the video was a personal caption explaining her decision whilst reflecting nostalgically on her years spent living in London.

Her candid post read: "I rented it first and then bought it a few years later. It was the most secure I had ever felt... I moved around a lot as a child and for many reasons often felt very unsettled. This flat was my life raft through highs and lows of my career, through the madness of coronavirus, it's where my babies came home from the hospital, took their first steps.. all the magical mess of life. The good, the bad... the hilarious and then the heartbreak."

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Further detailing, she said: "I never thought I would want to leave but life had other plans. I had a very difficult second birth and postpartum period with my second and in the end my little fam went to Ireland for a circuit breaker last year as my body just wasn't healing."

"Two weeks after being in Ireland my c-section finally closed up, I was about 7 months post partum by then. My nervous system finally had the break it so desperately needed - I was certainly suffering a major burn out at that point and London life was just too much on top of everything else.", reports Birmingham Live.

"When we came back to London there were more turbulent times to come and some tremendous losses that brought me to my knees. Too raw to go in to. Somehow I put one foot in front of the other for my husband and babies. The job of 'performer and actor' that I had done professionally since childhood has felt almost impossible to show up in, too vulnerable, too exposing."

"I never imagined the career that I have loved, the thing that was my escape from a challenging childhood would feel so difficult. That showing up publicly in my own skin could feel so out of reach. Performing - a survival strategy devised in childhood, no longer working. What to do? We needed to change something, my husband has been working every minute of the day trying to keep us going and to hold me and our girls through all this."

Ali is married to Three Musketeers movie actor David O'Mahony, 41 They have two daughters, Isla, four, and Isabelle, one. She previously told how her difficult birth of their second child had been followed by the passing of her "beautiful" friend.

Ali revealed their plan to relocate, saying: "A little seed of hope had been planted last summer and a daydream, that turned into nightly discussions... could we do it? Should we do it? Could we make it work? ".

"Slowly a plan was hatched and here we are now sitting in our little house, overlooking the ocean on the West Coast of Ireland. This move has felt like our best chance of healing. Moving so far from what I have known to start the journey home to myself."

"Acting still has my heart and I hope through my healing journey I can become a more connected and honest performer. Home. No longer needing to be a life raft but more a spring board into an exciting future."

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