EastEnders star Shona McGarty reveals she secretly split from fiancé Ryan Harris one year before shock announcement

EastEnders star Shona McGarty has revealed that she secretly split from her fiancé Ryan Harris one year before she made the shock announcement.

The 28-year-old announced in January that she and Ryan had amicably parted ways, 18 months after he proposed to the actress on her 26^th birthday.

However, Shona has now revealed that the couple actually split one year prior, but she didn't want to make a public announcement when things ‘fizzled out’ last year.

'I've actually been single for a year and a bit,' Shona told Fabulous magazine. 'I just didn't want to say anything. We were together for six years. When it ended it wasn't a bad break-up, it was amicable.

'We both came to the decision that, actually, this isn't what we really want. It fizzled out and we weren't the same people.’

She added, 'I'm not dating. I've never been on a date. Never. My anxiety would go through the roof if I had to go on a date. I'm just waiting. I'm not going to force it.'

Shona is known for playing fiery market stall worker Whitney Dean in the award winning BBC soap and shared details of her electrician beau’s romantic proposal back in 2018.

Previously detailing the moment she realised Ryan was asking her to marry him, Shona gushed, “Ryan asked me to cut the birthday cake and I was like: ‘Why? We’re not getting married!’”

Speaking to OK! she added, 'But I did it and there was a box on the top of the cake and Ryan asked me to open the box. When I opened it there was a ring inside and I turned around and Ryan was down on one knee and I started crying.'