EastEnders star 'put off drinking' playing boozy character

Jacqueline Jossa plays EastEnders character Lauren Branning. (Rex Features)

EastEnders actress Jacqueline Jossa has revealed that her character's boozy ways put her off drinking in real life.

The soap star's alter ego, Lauren Branning, is struggling with alcoholism on the BBC One show, and Jossa said the storyline had been an eye-opener.

The 19-year-old told the Daily Mirror: "Playing Lauren has put me off drink. I still have the odd one now and again, but I don't like being smashed off my face because I think 'Oh God, the way people look at Lauren, do they look at me like that?"'

PA