EastEnders actor Jamie Borthwick has revealed that he suffers from emetophobia - a fear of being sick.
The 27-year-old, who plays Jay Brown on the soap, told a podcast that he had been left with crippling anxiety as a result of the phobia but has now learned how to manage his condition.
"It affected me in so many ways," he told Lads, Dads and a Couple of Beers. "I didn't want to go out, I didn't want to shake people's hands. It became a thing about germs and I got quite OCD about things like that.
"I didn't want to be in busy environments where there were a lot of people. It just made me feel really anxious."
He continued: "I will never ever be OK about being sick ever, but I just get to a point where I cope with it, and just deal with it the best way I can.
"I can understand it now. I've got a bag of tools I can use to manage it and understand there are going to be times when I'm not going to be in the environment where I want to be all the time."
Borthwick recently celebrated his 15-year anniversary of appearing in EastEnders.
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