Stacey Slater is set to temporarily depart Albert Square in the coming weeks due to Lacey going on maternity leave


Lacey and her husband Matt, who she married in 2017, welcomed their daughter, Dusty, in July 2019 and son, Trilby, in February 2021.(Image: Instagram: @laceyturner)

EastEnders star Lacey Turner has taken to Instagram to share an adorable photo of her newborn baby, who arrived just weeks before the show’s 40th anniversary live episode.

Lacey, who plays Stacey Turner on the BBC soap, announced the birth of her third child back in January, telling her social media followers that her family’s ‘hearts are full’.

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Prior to her little one’s arrival, Lacey and her husband Matt, who she married in 2017, welcomed their daughter, Dusty, in July 2019 and son, Trilby, in February 2021.

Initially only telling her fans that they had a girl in sweet snaps of the baby with her siblings, Lacey revealed several days later through a photo of her little one resting on her chest, that they called her ‘Gipsy Olive’.

With Lacey taking to her Instagram story with a rare photo of her baby on Wednesday (March 5), Gipsy Olive could be seen beaming for the camera with her mum putting a ‘good morning’ sticker on the picture.

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The youngster, who was wearing a white cosy jumper, already has an impressive head of hair despite only being less than two-months-old, with her spikey jet-black hair making anyone’s heart melt.


Lacey Turner announced the birth of her third child Gipsy Olive back in January(Image: Instagram: @laceyturner)

After announcing her pregnancy in September, its believed that Lacey filmed her final scenes before going on maternity leave at around December-time.

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In spite of giving birth on January 22, Lacey returned to work for EastEnders 40th anniversary live episode on February 21, less than a month after becoming a mum for the third time.

The episode in question saw Lacey’s iconic character Stacey at the centre of things, with her ex-husband Martin Fowler having to be consoled after a steel beam fell on him in the episode prior.

With Martin dying in her arms moments after he confessed his love to Stacey, Lacey let-out a powerful scream that will go down in EastEnders history.

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Following the episode, departing actor James Bye sent all the praise for the episode towards Lacey, who he requested to personally break the news of his character’s demise to.

He said on the One Show: “I was sworn to keep it a secret. Obviously the people involved in the storyline were told not long after I was. In fact, I told the exec producer that, well after he made the decision, that you have to let me tell Lacey.

“Anyone else you can tell, but that was the most difficult conversation. Other than telling my wife, she wasn’t over the moon with it, to be fair. But telling Lacey was tough and it has been a really emotional couple of months, Joy and some tears, we have worked together a lot.”But to do it on an episode like that, it’s such a special night. I will never forget it, I will probably never get the chance to do something like that ever again. I will never forget that and the response from the audience has blown my mind honestly, it’s so overwhelming.”