Davood Ghadami worked on the panto Aladdin after leaving EastEnders, and reportedly fell for actress Melanie Barker while on the job
EastEnders star Davood Ghadami has reportedly “left his wife” for his panto co-star.
Davood, 42, starred in Aladdin over Christmas 2023, working with 32-year-old Melanie Barker as Princess Jasmine. While the duo – both married at the time – played enemies on stage, it seems they had plenty of chemistry in the real world.
Strictly Come Dancing star Davood “flirted” with Melanie while on the job, according to The Sun, and kept in touch after the show ended. Now, they’ve reportedly left their spouses and moved in together, with Davood and his wife sharing two children while Melanie has brought her three kids to live with Davood in Essex.
An insider shared: “They are two very attractive people and it was clear they had sizzling on-stage chemistry together. There was a lot of flirting backstage and I’m sure Aladdin wouldn’t have been happy that Princess Jasmine was giggling with Abanazar behind his back.”
They added: “But the genie is now well and truly out of the bottle and they are a proper couple – living together, training together and posting photos on Instagram together. It’s almost like a perfect fairytale ending – but for the previous partners they have left in their wake.”
Davood and Melanie now post plenty of photos together on social media, showing themselves cuddling up and sharing fun activities. Prior to Melanie, however, Davood gushed over his wife.
The actor married Isobel back in 2010, and the couple share two daughters: Eve, born in 2012, and Grace, born in 2015.
Back in 2018, he told Woman magazine: “My wife and I know each other inside out and have a genuine understanding about how the other ticks. We met 17 years ago at university so we’ve got a lot of shared history.
“I’m an incredibly lucky man. My life couldn’t be the way it is without her support. She was amazing when I was in Strictly and kept everything going.”
When Davood took part in Strictly Come Dancing in 2017, he was partnered up with pro dancer Nadiya Bychkova. The duo was plagued by rumours of the infamous Strictly ‘curse’ – with judge Bruno Tonioli even claiming their samba looked like a “race to the bedroom”.
However, Davood hit back at any suggestions infidelity, saying that he and Isobel knew the truth behind the dances on screen.
“People will say things. As long as you know the truth and the people you love know the truth it shouldn’t matter. I guess I did learn that,” he said, “My wife watches Kush on the TV pretending to be married to or sleeping with another character. So she is used to dealing with this sort of situation in my professional life. She is the rock, the steadiness in my life and she knows that. I’m incredibly lucky. She is so supportive.”
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