The last time I sat down for an in-depth chat with Rob Kazinsky was around the time of his notable return to EastEnders for an impactful mental health story, which saw his character Sean Slater cut a tormented figure, at a stage where he contemplated suicide.

It created some deeply moving scenes between Rob and co-star Gillian Wright, who plays Sean’s mum Jean and, like cameos that would follow, viewers were glad to see Sean again.

Sean, brought in as an alpha male, thuggish villain with little regard for those who crossed him but a fierce loyalty to family, gradually developed over time before a dramatic exit which followed quite a chilly dip in a frozen lake.

It’s fair to say that Sean’s life has gone through some changes – but this is more than relatable for Rob, who caught up with me and was as graciously open with me as ever for Metro’s Beyond the Bubble series, which catches up with stars who have left their soap roles.

In fact, when asked how life had changed for him over the decades, Rob was quite rightly bemused.

‘I was a child back then,’ he said, recalling his debut as a 22-year-old, unequipped for the level of fame a programme of such magnitude in the UK would bring.

‘People don’t really understand how young I was because I looked like an adult. I was a year older than Ellie Dadd who plays Amy Mitchell is now. I was a child, literally a child, thrust into that position and working with all these adults and expected to live a certain life and I was not mentally prepared.

‘I was just turned 22 when I started this job. It was a very different time and a very different Rob. Over the last 20 years I hope I’ve changed a lot for the better. I hope I’ve grown a lot wiser.

‘I’ve certainly doubled in size. ‘All the films and all the things I’ve done so far, I look back at the size I was then and I was so skinny. I was in such great shape. I’ve had to put on about 60-70lb of muscle for movies and I’ve lost weight, so physically extremely different. Two hair transplants. The hairline has definitely changed, the waistline has changed even more, so physically for sure and I hope I’ve matured a little, but that’s not really down to me to decide.’

The feeling of being unprepared and overwhelmed by fan reaction was something I was keen to discuss further, given in a recent interview with Jack Ryder, he said much the same, having made his EastEnders debut as a teenager.

Rob absolutely agreed with Jack, sharing: ‘It was the hardest thing that you could possibly understand. Back then it was a different beast,’ he said of EastEnders, which could bring in viewing figures of up to 15million. ‘I couldn’t walk down the street without somebody attacking me, I couldn’t go for a drink without somebody trying to throw a pint of lager on me or start a fight. You see this tough guy off the TV in a pub and tough guys want to fight him.

‘And, again, people didn’t understand I was a child, I was 22 years old. I didn’t know anything. It’s not like you earn enough money to have security or they give you press training or anything, you’re just kind of thrown to the wolves.

‘That was a very hard time and it’s one of the main reasons I left. I was betrayed by so many friends and so many people I knew and worked with. It was a rough time.

‘Being stalked by paparazzi, being stalked by the press, everybody trying to turn you into something you’re not. Even now, with all the experience I’ve had at 42 years old, having worked on all the films and worked with all the A listers and all the great directors, I still don’t know if I could handle that again.

‘When I left the show I made a very conscious decision that I wanted to work as an actor for the rest of my life but I never wanted to be famous again. I spent the next 20 years trying my best to make that happen.’

‘People like Jack, he was this heart-throb pin-up and there was no safety net for him, there was no protection for him. It is tough.

‘I’ve been saying to the BBC for years that they need to look after their younger actors and give them the protections they need. Because most people get to be idiots privately and some people are taken advantage of publicly.’

Having read so far, you might assume that Rob wants to put the show behind him but it’s the opposite – he still watches regularly, has many fond memories and keeps in touch with just about everyone who play Sean’s family.