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Hollyoaks

Leah Hackett


We all know Russ is really baby Max's father but this week the whole of HOLLYOAKS will find out too! We caught up with Leah Hackett, who plays Tina, to find out more...

Why do think that Tina has decided to tell Russ about baby Max?
I think because things are going so terribly in her relationship with Dom and because she finds out that Russ is leaving to go travelling for a year, this is her only opportunity. If she's not going to do it now it needs to be buried forever because Russ could come back at some time in the future. Also, because she is so unhappy and she feels that the only person she's got is Max I think that she feels that she owes it to him to tell the truth. This year has been really hard on her, she sees an opportunity and she decides to just take it.


How is Russ going to react?
Not very well at all! I wouldn't expect him to really as we've had a couple of scenes where there has been a moment where he checks that the baby isn't his and then it gets blown over. It really is the last thing that he's expecting and the last thing that he wants. This is ruining his life, he's met this wonderful girl who he's really excited about but he can't leave Tina now because ultimately he knows that she's a lovely person and he doesn't want her to go through this on her own.

What is going to happen to Tina and Dom when she is forced to tell him too?
Before Tina tells Russ, she and Dom have broken up anyway. He comes home one night after staying at a girl's house and, although nothing happens, she realises that he's not who she wants anymore. The one person that she does care about is Max, and Dom was never really part of their family. Dom reacts badly because he thinks that this secret has been kept for a long time and that this was a big affair even though it really was just a one night thing. He's been given a reason to really hate Tina and this results in him treating her as badly as possible.

Do you think Tina and Dom's marriage would have survived if she hadn't gone ahead with the surrogacy?
Yes, I think so. It was too much too soon and because they are both quiet, meek characters it would probably take them a good few years to become really strong. Because they did this straight away, and had the bullying at work storyline, they have been pressurised with a lot in a year. When Tina gave away the baby and then took him back Dom saw it as an opportunity to start again whereas I think that was the point where Tina began to think that things weren't right. I think if all of this hadn't happened they would have still had problems but nothing as bad as this, too many people have got involved in their relationship and it becomes unfixable.

What will Mercedes have to say about it all?
She finds out about it and I think that she just can't believe it but then a few days later she finds out that she may have HIV so that takes over pretty much straight away. She thinks it's a bit of a joke that Russ has been round the McQueen sisters. She isn't as hurt as Dom but she basically tells Tina that, while they thought she was different, she isn't really.

You can find out more about Leah on her cast profile.


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