Home and Away Martha star's real life – family tragedy, co-star hubby and soap return

Home and Away star Belinda Giblin is a Summer Bay legend.

The 71-year-old actress has played Martha Stewart on the Australian soap since in 2018, replacing Alison Mulvaney in the role.

She is no stranger to the Channel 5 show, however, as Belinda made her Home and Away debut over 30 years ago as Cynthia Ross.

Over recent years, Belinda has portrayed Martha through a number of struggles.

The character has been forced to come to grips with her Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) diagnosis, as well recent health problems which have left the character in desperate need of a kidney transplant and potentially at death’s door.

Daily Star have taken a look at Belinda’s life away from the soap.

Early life

Belinda was born on March 2, 1950 in Australia.

Her mother ran a dramatic society and acted and directed in productions but then died of breast cancer when she was 23,

She grew up in Tamworth, New South Wales and made her onscreen debut in 1974 when she appeared in a TV series called Homicide.

Belinda also appeared on an episode of Blankety Blanks in the 1970s but had her big break when she was cast in The Box, a long-running TV drama about what went on behind the scenes at Melbourne television station UCV-12.

She later appeared in The Sullivans, Skyways, Copshop, Sons and Daughter, and Heartbreak High.

Family values

Belinda met her husband Axel Bartz in the early 1980s.

The pair hit it off when Belinda was starring in a touring production of Bedroom Farce and Axel was working as the resident set designer for the South Australian Theatre Company in Adelaide.

Of their first meeting, Belinda told New Idea: “He was a pretty gorgeous bloke!

“We had a chemistry from the start – there’s no question about that.”

Belinda soon gave birth to the couple’s daughter Romy and three years later, they tied the knot.

The married duo later welcomed their son Nicholas in 1987, with their children now adults themselves.

These days, Belinda and Axel live in Sydney with their pet kelpie Billie and cat Arlo – though they see their grandchildren on regular occasions.

Belinda added: “The most joyful time in my life was having my babies and then my grandchildren.

“I’m very much a family person, so family is extremely important to me, and I’m a very hands-on grandmother.”

Home and Away debut

Mother-of-two Belinda made her Home and Away debut in 1991.

The actress portrayed Cynthia Ross for a number of episodes before the character was eventually phased off screens.

Seven years later, she returned briefly in a one -episode cameo as a character named Catherine Clements, though Belinda’s time on the soap was far from over.

In 2018, she made a shock return to Summer Bay as a legendary and once thought to be deceased character.

Martha’s shock return

For years, Roo Stewart’s mother Martha had only featured on Home and Away in flashback form.

She was portrayed in two episodes by actress Alison Mulvaney and believed to have drowned in a boat accident.

In 2018, the character made a shock return to the soap.

It was revealed that Martha’s husband Alf (Ray Meagher) had lied about her death so that Roo (Georgie Parker) wouldn’t learn the painful truth of her mother’s abandonment.

The character was reintroduced on 27 March 2018, with Belinda taking on the iconic mantle.

Of her return to Home and Away, Belinda told Stuff: “I absolutely adore it.

“All the young cast – these wonderful young people who are all shooting each other or having affairs – are utterly delightful and I have to say there are no divas in this show, and by that I mean no one’s acting like a celebrity.”

Home and Away airs weekdays on Channel 5 in the UK

Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk