He became a household name at the tender age of 18, after winning the role of the loveable rogue, ‘Deano’ Wicks, on the BBC soap EastEnders.
But now twenty years on, Matt Di Angelo has opened up about his struggles with depression, sparked by the highs and lows of the industry that has left him feeling like an outcast.
Now married to wife Sophia Perry with whom he shares three-year-old twins Daphne and Raphael, Matt confesses that the showbusiness industry is a constant source of stress and anxiety that has left him feeling isolated from his profession.
He also opened up about a spell on antidepressants and his satisfying side hustle renovating properties.
He told the They All Need Therapy podcast: ‘I get super stressed and super anxious, I don’t regret going into the business, but I am envious of people who get up and work and get a pay check at the end of the month, because they have job security.
‘When you book an acting job, you’ll get someone’s yearly wage in like a month and you then have to manage your finances because a year later, you then get that fat tax bill, it’s a constant stress in my life.’
He became a household name at the tender age of 18, after winning the role of the loveable rogue, ‘Deano’ Wicks, on the BBC soap EastEnders
But now twenty years on, Matt Di Angelo has opened up about his struggles with depression , sparked by the highs and lows of the industry that has left him feeling like an outcast (seen in 2009)
The 38-year-old has been with his partner Sophia, a wedding planner since 2019.
The pair tied the knot with a lavish reception at the Dorchester Hotel in 2021. Then in 2022 their twins, a boy and a girl were born.
Now Matt describes how fatherhood has made his priorities change in the face of his fickle and uncompromising career choice.
The star explained: ‘Recently I got an offer of a play, but then I am thinking, I don’t know if I want to go and leave my kids for six months.
‘My personal qualm with the industry is that you go from a position where everything’s all about you and the cameras are all on you and your make up and its ‘Can I get you a coffee’ and you’re getting paid obscene amounts of money hitting your bank every week and interviews and red carpets and everything else.
‘Then, all of a sudden your job finishes and ‘bam’ nothing. The ups and downs make me feel very isolated from the industry, completely isolated. I always felt like I was winging it.’
Having trained at the prestigious Sylvia Young Theatre school, Matt competed on Strictly Come Dancing in 2007, aged just 20 and finished in second place with his partner Flavia Cacace.
Indeed, he admits that he lived the high life during his early EastEnders heyday.
Now married to wife Sophia Perry with whom he shares three-year-old twins Daphne and Raphael, Matt confesses that the showbusiness industry is a constant source of stress
Having trained at the prestigious Sylvia Young Theatre school, Matt competed on Strictly Come Dancing in 2007, aged just 20 and finished in second place with his partner Flavia Cacace
He also opened up about a spell on antidepressants and his satisfying side hustle renovating properties
The pair tied the knot with a lavish reception at the Dorchester Hotel in 2021. Then in 2022 their twins, a boy and a girl were born
‘I bought a Porsche on my credit card, I got my mum to drive me to Porsche of Bournemouth, where the Porsche I wanted was.
‘I sat there in my mum’s Volkswagen, so I bought it and crashed it a few months later. When you’re sacked form EastEnders, they call you into the office and they just say, ‘Yeah we don’t really know what to do with you’ I am like 19 years old and I am like, ‘ok.’
‘You don’t really think about getting fired when you’re 19, I was just walking around like, ‘life’s great.’
After leaving EastEnders, he then had a starring role in the hit TV series Hustle.
He says: ‘I loved Hustle it felt like a family, and I loved it cos you’re working, and you know you’ve got another season and you’re back and forth.
‘And I’ve done other stuff like if I look on paper, I’ve done stuff, but that doesn’t change the fact that I don’t feel its an industry that is interested in me or cares about me.’
But Matt, who was a red carpet favourite during his years on EastEnders, says that the industry can be dangerous for those who experience ‘sudden fame.’
He explained: ‘It’s a dangerous industry, if you’re 18 and you go from nothing to loads of money. Literally when I was 18, women, not even girls, women were forcibly trying to get me into bed.
‘People trying to sleep with you, to get money, for this kiss and tell lifestyle thing. No one trains to put your money away, pay yourself a little bit because you might go a little bit without work.’
During a particularly dark period of his life where he spent four years out of work, Matt reveals that he couldn’t leave the house without a dose of diazepam, after he became paranoid that he’d soil his pants in public.
He told the, They All Need Therapy podcast: ‘There was a period of my life where I wouldn’t leave the house without diazepam. I had a phobia of defecating, of being on stage or in public and feeling like, ‘I need to take a sh**.’ Or like ‘I’ve got food poisoning’, ‘I’m going to throw up.’
‘I was getting on planes so I was taking diazepam to help me with that and people constantly looking at me.
‘Having a quiet drink with friends and being surrounded by people. I’ve just come back from Marbella and this random club in Spain and I had 15 English guys screaming the word ‘Deano’ in your face drunkenly.’
During a particularly dark period of his life where he spent four years out of work, Matt reveals that he couldn’t leave the house without a dose of diazepam
Matt recently returned to Albert Square, reappearing as Dean Wicks the Beales new business partner in October 2023, before his dramatic exit after a major courtroom storyline in 2024
Matt recently returned to Albert Square, reappearing as Dean Wicks the Beales new business partner in October 2023, before his dramatic exit after a major courtroom storyline in September 2024.
But even though show bosses have hinted that his character could return once more, Matt who also makes a living renovating properties, says he now gets more pleasure from manual labour that acting.
He said: ‘When I’ve renovated a house and I filled up the skip and I’ve plastered, there’s a satisfaction that I get from doing a day’s manual labour that I don’t get from doing an episode of a TV show because I’ve got something to show for it, some appreciation. I can look at it and go, ‘I did that.’
‘Whereas you go and shoot a scene and then they’re onto the next scene and no one says, ‘oh that was good.’ No one cares.’
