You may know her as Tiffany Mitchell, but there’s a LOT more to Martine McCutcheon than first meets the eye.
From her abusive childhood, to musical success, to bankruptcy, to her happy ever after, it’s time to take a look back over Martine’s extraordinary life.
Martine Kimberley Sherri Ponting
Martine was born in Hackney on the 14th May 1976. Her mother, Jenny Tomlin, was 19-years-old at the time.
A horrific childhood
When Martine was just two-years-old, her father Thomas Hemmings grabbed her by the ankles and dangled her over a balcony.
He did this in a desperate bid to force Martine’s mum Jenny into having sex with him.
“There were lots of issues in my childhood, stuff to do with my dad I’d never really faced,” said Martine later.
Hemmings moved out shortly after the balcony incident, but began returning regularly to threaten her mother.
As a result, Martine’s early years were spent running and hiding in order to escape him.
Finally free
When Martine was nine, her mother won sole custody and also obtained an injunction which prohibited Hemmings from seeing McCutcheon until she was 18.
Julie went on to marry John McCutcheon - and Martine took on her stepfather’s name.
A star in the making
Martine joined the Italia Conti School when she was only 11. Her mother Jenny knew from the start that she had a theatrical daughter: “She used to dance and sing from the age of four and just loved being the centre of attention.
“She always wanted to be a ballet dancer.”
Singing with Milan - and Simon Cowell!
When Martine was 14-years-old, she responded to an ad in The Stage newspaper looking for young girls to join a pop group, Milan.
The band had a No 1 dance hit and toured with East 17.
She said: “Simon Cowell wanted to sign us up. He was at RCA at the time, but the timings weren’t right.”
Despite the fledgling girlband’s success, Martine hated appearing in seedy clubs, and soon quit.
Becoming Tiffany
Martine was working in Knickerbox in Lakeside Thurrocks when she auditioned for a part in 'EastEnders' in 1994.
She said at the time: “Funnily enough, I’d spent most of my life trying to get away from the Eastender 'Tart with A Heart' image, and here I was putting myself forward as an out and out ‘cockney sparra’ in the role of Tiffany Mitchell!”
Speaking about how her mum prepped her for the role, Martine said she was advised ”to wear the dangly earrings with the short skirts and the low, V-neck tops, because that's what the barmaids wore.
“[Mum] was very open about it all. She'd say you need to lean over and say in a breathy but firm voice, 'Hello! What d'you fancy?' And, hopefully, they'll say, 'You', and you'll get free drinks all night."
Tiffany was eventually paired up with pub landlord Grant Mitchell (Ross Kemp) and they went on to have a daughter together.
Speaking about how Courtney’s birth changed her character, Martine said: "[Tiffany]'s changed completely since the birth [of her daughter]. She used to be hard and selfish, only interested in men and clothes, being free and having a wild time. Now all she wants is to settle down."
Betrayed and broken-hearted
Martine was engaged to DJ Gareth Cooke but broke off the relationship in 1996.
Unhappy with the breakup, Cooke went on to sell stories about his and Martine’s sex life to the press.
Martine then began dating her friend Jonathan Barnham, but that relationship ended after it was revealed that he had attended sex parties behind her back.
She said: "I know the confidence knock that comes with [infidelity], and it's a hideous thing to go through."
The return of Martine’s father
Despite Martine hoping that her career would impress her absent father, he returned to her life in the worst way possible; by selling stories about her to the press.
She said to The Scotsman: "I think I'd had a hope that he'd gone off and had a lovely family and been a lovely, decent man, and then when he sold his story my mum looked at me, at the kitchen table, and said, 'We did kind of know this would happen. Are you disappointed?'
“I said, 'Yeah, I just think he has done enough. Why does he have to do this as well?'"
She added: "Maybe I would have been a daddy's girl if I'd had him around until I was nine or something and I had known what I was missing. But all I saw of him was bad.
“I didn't want him in my life because I was frightened of him so, no, there isn't that instinctive thing there. He doesn't deserve that. I have lots of things I love in my life and lots of dreams – but not about him."
Tiffany’s fateful car accident
In September 1997, it was leaked to the press that Martine was considering leaving EastEnders in order to pursue a singing career.
As Tiffany was such a popular character, 22 million viewers tuned in to see her final scenes in Albert Square in 1998 when her character was killed in a special episode screened on New Year's Eve.
However Martine later revealed that she was hurt that producers had killed her off.
She said: ”I wanted to be written out but not in such a final way. I was very upset. Even if I become the most successful singer in the world, I would still have loved it if I could have walked back into the Queen Vic."
Martine later added: ”What I wanted to do was come back, no matter what happened. To come back, walk into the Vic and say, `Hello Grant'. I told them that even if I had a number one single I would sign a contract to say I'd turn up in the Vic one last time because people would love it.
“I knew the BBC producers had given time off to other cast members. I thought they might do the same for me. But they wouldn't budge. They just said: `No - you either stay with it as it is or we're going to kill you off'.
“I said: `Don't you think that's a little drastic? We've got the best writers in Britain. There are loads of wonderful, dramatic things we can do. It doesn't mean you have to kill her off forever. That leaves no hope for me, for the public as far as the character goes, and no hope for the show as far as Tiffany is concerned.
“They knew I would make my singing career work and they wanted to get their pound of flesh from me before I went."
This Is My Moment
In 1999, Martine released a beautiful love ballad called Perfect Moment - and it rocketed to number one in the charts.
That same year she scored two more Top 10 hits, reaching No. 6 with two singles: I've Got You and later with Talking in Your Sleep.
All three songs had been taken from her debut album You, Me & Us, which debuted at No. 2 in the UK albums chart and was certified platinum.
Martine went on to release two more albums but her recording contract was later terminated due to poor record sales.
My Fair Lady, high expectations, and intensive care
Since leaving EastEnders in 1998, Martine won a Laurence Olivier Award for best actress in a musical for her performance as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady in 2002.
However, despite wowing audiences with her phenomenal voice, Martine soon found herself dogged by illness.
She said: “I had actually been working since I was 13, and there had been lots of providing for my family. I was totally exhausted, both mentally and physically, and I think that is why I was so susceptible to the virus which struck me. Then I got acute tonsillitis and a strep infection and the whole thing laid me very low.”
Martine was rushed to hospital and, as a result, was forced to end her time as Eliza.
“I wanted to fulfil my contract but couldn’t,” she said.
“Up to that point I’d been very much a people-pleaser – and at that time I was devastated, because it seemed everyone was angry with me, as though I could have helped being ill.”
Despite this setback, Martine won the Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical.
Love Actually, The Mistress and Danone
In 2003, Martine appeared alongside Hugh Grant in Love, Actually, playing Grant's tea lady and love interest, Natalie.
“I nearly talked myself out of the role when I first went to see Richard Curtis,” she said.
“I was just so terrified of disappointing everyone – of not being good enough. But he soon put me at my ease. In fact, he started by calling me 'Teeny', which no one has ever done before!”
The actress published her first novel in 2009, The Mistress, which featured on the bestsellers list.
She later went on to land a contract with Danone, a popular yogurt brand.
Myalgic Encephalopathy (ME) and depression
In 2012, Martine was diagnosed with ME and depression after collapsing many times.
She told The Sun: “All I knew was life felt like hell every day.
"I’ve had the worst seven years ever. It’s just been one thing after another. I have not been in a nice place in my head, financially nor with my career.”
She added: “On the days when I felt all right I’d try to do a million things. I felt manically high. My doctor gave Cipralex, an anti-depressant, and I took it until eight months ago.
“I was against pills at first but they helped massively.”
Jack McManus
In 2012, Martine married musician Jack McManus.
She told Hello magazine: ”If you've been abandoned by a parent or brought up by a single parent as I was, deep down you feel that's going to happen again.
"Now, with Jack, I feel completely loved. In other relationships I've had to apologise for elements of who I am - 'Sorry about the press,' or, 'Sorry it's not glamorous 24/7'.
"With Jack, there's no need for me to apologise or compromise."
The couple have gone on to perform duets together at musical festivals - and seem very much in love.
Bankruptcy
In January 2013, Martine filed for bankruptcy.
KPMG's David Standish, who was appointed joint trustee in bankruptcy of McCutcheon by the Secretary of State on 24th January 2013, said at the time: "Ms McCutcheon petitioned for her own bankruptcy at Kingston-Upon-Thames County Court.
"We are now responsible for administering her estate and are in the process of establishing the individual's assets and liabilities; the largest creditor being Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs."
Bankruptcy trustees KPMG said the star's "largest creditor" was Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs.
Fertility struggles and pregnancy
In August 2014, Martine and Jack announced they were expecting their first child together.
But Martine admitted to Hello! magazine that, after her seven year battle with chronic fatigue syndrome, she’d long resigned herself to being childless.
She said: “We’d always said that if we were fortunate to be blessed with a child, that would be wonderful, but we were very aware that it’s not a given.
“As a woman in her late 30s who’s experienced health problems, I thought I might have to accept that it wasn’t a path my life was going to take, but it would have been a great sadness in our lives if that had been the case.”
Martine happily added: “It’s like finally the tides have turned. Great things are starting to happen on the work front, but more than anything, expecting our baby boy has given us clarity about what matters.”
Motherhood
On 4th February 2015, Martine McCutcheon gave birth to a son, Rafferty.
Speaking about becoming a mother, she told Hello magazine: “I used to think, when I heard people say having a child was their most life-changing moment, that they were just saying that because it was the expected thing to say.
“Now I so get it. I have never been so in love, so content and so full of happiness in my life. My mum always said to me that it is a love like no other, and it’s absolutely true.
“'This baby boy is the love of our lives and I think the fact this didn’t happen easily for us and faced challenges along the way has made him even more precious.”
We're so glad that Martine McCutcheon has finally found her 'perfect moment'.****