Max Bowden and Danielle Harold have sparked speculation of a fall out. They may have shared a close bond both on and off-screen, but it seems the soap stars have hit a bump in the road after unfollowing each other on Instagram. Max, 30, who currently plays Ben Mitchell, and Danielle, 32, who portrayed Lola Pearce, have starred alongside each other for years. On-screen, the pair were involved in storylines where their characters even shared a child. However, Danielle's character, Lola, was killed off in a heartbreaking cancer storyline back in May 2023, marking her exit from Albert Square.
Harold continued to appear as Lola sporadically via the character's video diaries until 25 December 2023 and made further appearances via video footage on 20 June 2024 and 11 September 2024. Meanwhile, Max has played his role since 2019. Since then, the actress has appeared on I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here, along with other TV ventures like The Weakest Link and Celebrity Hunted last year. She recently reunited with her ex-co-star Max for a special Celebrity Antiques Road Trip to celebrate the 40th anniversary of EastEnders.
The pair celebrated their excitement on the project, with Danielle telling Road Trip star Ishy Khan how close she is to her fellow soap co-star. "We're really close, really close," she said. "It's nice to do something fun. With EastEnders, our storylines are really heavy and really sad.". Ishy quickly brought up Danielle's career in EastEnders, reflecting on the impact of her character's storyline. She specifically pointed out how heartbreaking and tragic Lola's ending was, pointing out the emotional toll it had on both the audience and the cast.
She said: "It didn’t end on a great note…" Danielle responded: "No, it did not end on a great note at all." The conversation then turned back to Maz and Danielle's strong friendship. Ishy remarked: "You can tell there’s love there." Harold agreed: "Yeah, there is. He loves me really. He pretends like he don’t, but be does." However, reports from The Sun now suggest that the pair have reportedly unfollowed each other on Instagram, sparking rumours of a potential fallout.
It comes as fans have been gearing up for the anticipated 40th anniversary of EastEnders. The episode will go live and Walford's residents fight to save their friends and neighbours inside the Vic. Denise takes a big step as she chooses between Jack and Ravi, following a public vote where fans decide who she should be with. Starting from Monday 17 February all episodes will drop simultaneously on BBC One and BBC iPlayer at 7:30pm. A special hour-long episode will air on the show's anniversary (Wednesday 19 February), followed by a full live episode on Thursday 20 February, which will not only reveal who Denise chooses but will conclude an explosive week of drama in Walford.
