Outnumbered actress Ramona Marquez has hit out at claims that she was a cash-strapped student who sold her old underwear online.
The London-born actress, who played the hilarious Karen Brockman in the hit BBC show, said she couldn't believe that the 'crazy' rumour was plastered in the tabloids.
In a new interview, she explained how her innocent side hustle ended up getting completely blown out of proportion because of a sports bra.
For the first time in eight years, the Brockman family will finally be back on our TV screens this Christmas for a one-off festive special which will air on 26 December.
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Pete (Hugh Dennis) and Sue's (Claire Skinner) eccentric offspring are all grown up these days, so Brits should brace themselves to see the adorable trio in adult size.
Marquez and her on-screen siblings - Daniel Roche and Tyger Drew-Honey - have navigated their adolescence in the spotlight since shooting to fame in 2007.
"I’ve never known any different," Marquez told The Independent. "I was so young. I hear about other instances in TV where young kids were exploited, and I feel lucky that we were always respected."
Although she has nothing but good things to say about the cast and crew on Outnumbered, Marquez doesn't share the same sentiment when it comes to the media.
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The 23-year-old began hitting the headlines again after she debuted a bold new look, which was a stark contrast to how people remembered her from the show.
For the most part, Marquez is unfazed by things printed in the papers about her - unless it involves claims that she's flogging old underwear online.
In 2021, several UK news outlets began reporting that Marquez was 'selling off her old bras' for as little as £4.
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"I sold a sports bra," she recalled. "It wasn’t even mine. I’d never even seen it before. It just must have been my sister’s or something, who knows - and then it was in the news.
"And it was such a misrepresentation. It was just a crazy, crazy thing to write."
Although she was technically selling an old sports bra online, the situation was somewhat misconstrued.
Basically, in 2021 Marquez had set up a Depop account while she was attending university in Manchester to study Spanish and Mandarin.
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She listed hundreds of items for sale, including dresses, jumpers, skirts... and a sports bra.
As a result, various reports stated that the Outnumbered star had been forced to start selling her old clobber to fund her lifestyle after quitting acting.
Looking back on the underwear saga, Marquez said: "It was so out there that even the readers were commenting, saying, 'I read the story and she’s sold like 500 things on Depop. You’re portraying that to be something quite sinister'.
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"You sometimes think, well, you know, I could be doing that. There’d be nothing wrong with that if I wanted to, but I’m actually not, so let’s just keep the facts straight."
Now that she has finished her studies, Marquez revealed she has been eyeing up a return to the acting world, as she 'loves' immersing herself in roles.
"It is my complete passion and ambition," she said. "But I’ve been doing other stuff on the side, such as learning to tattoo, because obviously for an actor, there can be big periods between jobs."
Olivia Burke