Grantchester star Kacey Ainsworth has revealed that she quit acting for nearly seven years after discovering that her son, Elwood, was on the autistic spectrum, and needed more care.
The actress, 50, who also starred as Little Mo in EastEnders, shares two children Blossom, 14, and Elwood, 11, with her partner Darren, and took on a much lighter workload following her son’s diagnosis, taking one just one acting job a year to support him.
She opened up about the decision to The Mirror, explaining: “I only did jobs with a short time commitment and only one a year. It would have been too disruptive for me to have had a chaotic schedule.”
Speaking about his diagnosis aged six, she continued: “I was really shocked. He went to our local communication disorder clinic, and I sat behind glass watching my child being assessed by an educational psychologist, speech therapist, and a child psychologist. It was excruciating.
“They diagnosed him with Asperger’s syndrome and dyspraxia, which I hadn’t even heard of. It was a sad day because you have a baby, and you want things to be normal. You have to go through that grieving process where you think—this isn’t what I’d set out for.”
Since Elwood’s initial diagnosis, Kacey has become the ambassador for charities ADD-vance and Anna Kennedy Online, and is full of praise for her son, who enjoys playing sports and is the captain of a rugby team.
© PBSShe added that her son is a “unique, wonderful individual”.
“I feel like I’ve been given a wonderful gift by him,” she said. “Obviously I wish things weren’t so difficult for him and there are times it breaks my heart. People were rude and said things like: ‘I don’t think we should have those type of children at our school’. But it has made me more accepting of people with differences and I don’t judge a book by its cover.”
Kacey plays Robson Green’s onscreen wife Cathy Keating in Grantchester, but now has plenty of projects in the works! Chatting to What to Watch, she said: “I’ve got a short film coming up, a play and another BBC drama, which I’ve just finished shooting. And I definitely want to do more writing but I have absolutely NO wish to direct.
“I don’t ever do any ‘celebrity’ shows, I like to just do my work. That said, Robson invited me onto his BBC show Weekend Escapes, so I’ve filmed one of those. He threw me in the River Tyne! Have I forgiven him? Just about!”
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