As her other half Max George has sadly been rushed into hospital yet again for ongoing heart issues, actress Maisie Smith lifts the lid on her life with The Wanted singer
As it emerges that The Wanted singer Max George has had another scary hospital dash, his girlfriend Maisie Smith opens up about life with her partner of four years, her new role in stage play The Talented Mr Ripley, and the one rule she and Max always follow.
Former EastEnders star Maisie Smith is currently touring the UK, starring in the electrifying new stage production of The Talented Mr Ripley – after a jam-packed 2025, which saw her star in The War of the Worlds with Max.
But on Tuesday morning, Max was rushed to hospital a year after having a pacemaker fitted. The star revealed he had been taken to A&E and shared a snap from his hospital bed. He wrote: “What now ffs. This s**t ALWAYS happens in the middle of the night.”
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Max then referenced his beloved pet Pitbull, writing, “Poor Albert”. later sharing a selfie on his stories, writing: “Running HOT.”
As Maisie tells the Mirror, being away from her beau when she’s on the road can be tough – and it must be particularly hard after all Max’s health battles. “It was lovely working with Max, we enjoyed it, but it can be hard to be away from each other.”
“But what I love is that, with my family in particular, they have a camper van and often, wherever I’m at, my mum will say, ’ Can you send me your schedule for the next few months?’
“And they’ll drive up and come and stay with me for the week, which is lush, so it keeps it really fun, and I do enjoy getting to see different places.
“I get to travel all over England all the time, and especially with the cast in the play. We have a group chat, and on our days off, we’ll go to museums and get tea, cakes, and stuff.”
On a rare day off, aside from sightseeing or a spot of retail therapy, she’ll often catch up on a favourite show on Netflix – and is a sucker for ‘rewatching stuff’ at night when struggling with her insomnia – her current favourites being Gilmore Girls and Suits.
But at home in Manchester, where she and Max live after she moved up North from Essex, she and her man have one hard and fast rule when it comes to telly, she says.
“We have to watch the shows we both want to see together – that’s the rule! We watched all the Hunger Games the other day, but we didn’t get to see the last one. But I’ve obviously been away, and I’m like, you’re not watching it until I’m back!”
In December, Maisie and Max enjoyed some precious one-to-one downtime on a special couple’s holiday, she says, alluding to a year which saw her other half in another hospital dash and away touring with Wanted bandmate Siva Kaneswaran.
“I went to Switzerland and did some skiing, which was lovely, just me and Max. It was my first Christmas away from home, which was very different, but I think, after the year that Max and I had, we needed our own little trip.
“My family completely understood, and I didn’t altogether ditch them. I then did the week before and the week after.
Meanwhile, Maisie is busy impressing audiences with her turn in The Talented Mr Ripley – about a con artist who kills and steals identities, as he manipulates everyone around him.
The 24 year-old plays the role of Marge, made famous by Gwyneth Paltrow in 1999 – which came out before Maisie was even born.
“That did make me laugh that the film was older than me”, she laughs. “I had seen it before, but I specifically didn’t watch it before the show because I didn’t want to be influenced by other people’s portrayals.
“Gwyneth did it her way, and I wanted to do it my way. I don’t want to feel like I’m copying or trying not to copy. I look at the script that I’ve got and try to work with that instead.
She adds, “The way Mark Leipacher, the writer and director, has done it is pretty different. There are moments in the show where we act out all the various alternative scenarios that could happen. That’s what is quite exciting about live theatre – we can really take it to the extreme.
“It’s a fun watch because at the end, you’re left feeling quite conflicted about how you’re supposed to feel, whether you’re supposed to root for this horrible guy. My mum said that it was so weird, she wanted him to win, even though he’s awful!”
And while Maisie is now firmly focused on theatre, her roots in Walford remain close to her heart. She reveals she was unable to return for EastEnders’ 40th anniversary simply because she was on tour, having spent the last year and a half on the road with theatre commitments.
Still, she says she keeps a close eye on the show and praises the cast for their fast-paced, demanding workload, revealing that filming can mean 12 to 14 scenes a day.
Maisie says soap acting is one of the hardest jobs in the industry, explaining that when storylines are busy, actors can film up to 12 scenes a day, five days a week, learning huge amounts of dialogue on the spot.
Reflecting on growing up on screen, she laughs that the biggest shock of becoming an adult on set was realising she no longer got five-minute breaks every 20 minutes. But she says the real gift was the chance to explore more diverse and gritty storylines, adding that while she loved her childhood years on the show, she preferred the depth of adult story arcs.
She also admits she still follows former co-stars online and says she was rooting for Shona while she was Down Under, while also keeping an eye on Patsy Palmer’s children, who she says have done incredibly well. Maisie adds with a smile that Patsy’s daughter was born just two days apart from her, something she still finds surreal given their famous resemblance.
Beyond acting, Maisie has also tested herself on reality TV. She describes Celebrity SAS in 2020 as “brutal”, but says she remains open-minded about future projects, as long as they fit around her acting work. While she doubts she’d be any good as a Traitor, she laughs that she might make a decent Faithful, admitting she’s not a great liar.
She also still dances when she can – usually on nights out with friends – and says although she did a few lessons after Strictly, her busy touring schedule made it hard to commit.
She speaks warmly of her former partner Gorka Márquez, calling him lovely and sweet, and says they still keep in touch via social media. She adds that when her brother-in-law recently worked with Gorka, he had nothing but kind things to say about her.
When asked who she would like to see take over hosting duties on Strictly, Maisie says AJ Odudu would be a great choice, praising her personality and pointing out that she once stepped in for her on the tour after AJ broke her foot before the final.
Just last month, Max – who shot to fame in The Wanted alongside Nathan Sykes, Siva Kaneswaran, Jay McGuiness and the late Tom Parker – explained he had to have some tests after having a number of surgeries on his heart. He previously had to undergo an emergency heart operation after having a pacemaker fitted in 2024.
“I am in the building where I had all my heart surgeries. I can’t say it is good to be back because it is not. I just had a scan done on my chest because I’ve had a bit of an issue with one of my lungs. It should be fine. It is just a precaution.”
It’s another busy year on stage for Maisie, after she finishes her current The Talented Mr Ripley run, it’s a well-deserved Caribbean break.
“Luckily, I’ve got a trip booked in May with my family, I cannot wait. I feel like I deserve a bit of sun. my pale skin is turning blue at the minute. We’re going to Antigua; it’s where my mum and dad got married, and it’s their 25th wedding anniversary, so a few of us are going to fly out.
“My mum and dad never really fly; they’re always in their camper van so that it would be a really nice once-in-a-lifetime trip. It’s two weeks after I finish the tour, so it will definitely be needed for us all.”
Then after a couple of months off in the summer, it’s straight back out on stage for Maisie, to play Audrey in a major new revival of the popular musical Little Shop of Horrors in Manchester – finally, a job close to home, and no doubt, some quality time with Max.
Maisie Smith currently stars in The Talented Mr Ripley touring the UK and Ireland until May, and will then star in Little Shop of Horrors at Manchester’s Hope Mill Theatre from 25 September.
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