EastEnders bad boy Jamie Foreman has opened up about his own villainous past, revealing he once came close to shooting a man dead.
The actor has made his name playing on-screen tough guys, including a drug dealer in Layer Cake and nasty Bill Sikes in a 2005 adaptation of Oliver Twist, while his latest character is Derek Branning, the dangerous elder brother of Max, Carol and Jack in the hit BBC soap.
Jamie's father was gangster Freddie Foreman, an associate of the notorious Kray twins, and his new autobiography, Gangsters, Guns and Me, the star reveals he came close to becoming embroiled in the criminal underworld while the family were in hiding in America.
"We'd been on the run for almost 18 months after the drug deal was botched. An innocent family man had been killed for doing his job and dad was horrified and furious that it had gone so wrong.
"We spent six months in Tenerife then moved to Pennsylvania where dad and I had to start from scratch. No one knew the Foreman name out there, but we built up a successful business running a games room full of state of the art machines.
"We were under a lot of pressure. It's not a glamorous thing to be hiding abroad. When your freedom and liberty are at stake it wears your life away and becomes a prison in itself.
"I became very frustrated and depressed but I bottled up my feelings for the sake of the family. But all that frustration started turning to anger and one day I just snapped.
"Tyrone was a local guy who did a good line in nicked gear. He was funny and we usually got on well. But that day he waltzed into my office with a load of stolen designer shirts... and jokingly threw one at me.
"Within seconds of it hitting my chest, I was out of my chair, across the room and pointing a cocked .32 automatic against Tyrone's head.
"I just completely flipped... He was shaking and trying to calm me down. But for the first time in my life I wanted to kill and I came terrifyingly close.
"I remember thinking how easy it would be to pull the trigger. I knew I was capable of it. I had it in me. Thank God I calmed down enough to realise what I was doing. I slung Tyrone out of the building and eventually, the adrenaline died down.
"But I'd threatened to end a man's life over a shirt, for f**ks sake! That was the point I realised I had to come home and get back to my 'other' life."
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EastEnders bad boy Jamie Foreman has opened up about his own villainous past, revealing he once came close to shooting a man dead.
The actor has made his name playing on-screen tough guys, includin...
EastEnders bad boy Jamie Foreman has opened up about his own villainous past, revealing he once came close to shooting a man dead.
The actor has made his name playing on-screen tough guys, includin...
What is it with these celebrity pretend gangsters. Please grow up, so what, you held a gun. You are lucky you were allowed back in the UK. And you are proud to talk about this "so called' event! Perleeze mate get a grip. You wouldnt last 2 minutes on the streets of London these days! Stop living in the past you PLUM!
Comment_Princess: What is it with these celebrity pretend gangsters. Please grow
No haters here just good honest people allowed to have an opinion about someone apparently gone good? and bragging about his gangster past! in a book which no doubt will attract people interested in gangster life, as I doubt that any one will purchase the book if it was based on his acting skills or career, will they? LOL! Apart from that, I suppose he has done well playing parts he knows so well....! How about playing an intellectual role? Or a role which teenagers can look up to...cos he is doing a great job doing that HUH!
Comment_Princess: No haters here just good honest people allowed to have
i went to school with jamie and he was lovely charles dicken's at the borough london se1 in the 60's his dad's pub was at the end of my road lant street we had some really good time's in the pub too having a coke bottle and a packet of crisp's the good ole day's jacqui lowry xxxx
jacqs123: i went to school with jamie and he was lovely
he looks a pretty nasty peice of work ,I think to play a bad boy you have to have it in you to begin with or the audiance with see straight through you,I heard his dad did a bit of this and that with the krays ,some people you just wouldnt have liked to get on the wrong side of but they wore good to their own at a cost to others if you know what I mean....
everalldoris: he looks a pretty nasty peice of work ,I think
People should use their remote more ! there are so many 'Soaps' on the box , and they are mostly puerile , nauseating rubbish , certainly far from real life , where people actually work for a living , and don't make money running a business that mainly is involved with giving out freebies ?
Cynicaloldgit: People should use their remote more ! there are so
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First Posted: 20/02/2012 09:20 Updated: 20/02/2012 09:31