Neighbours’ Des and Daphne actors 36 years since exit – including sad mental health battle

Before Scott and Charlene, there was Des and Daphne – the original Neighbours couple who got married in a fairytale wedding, one year prior to Mr and Mrs Robinson becoming an item.

Daphne Lawrence (played by Elaine Smith) was originally a stripper with a heart of gold – she fell for loveable Des Clarke (played by Paul Keane) in the very first episode of the popular Australian soap, back on 18 March, 1985.

Daphne was one of just 12 original Neighbours characters – along with Des – created by TV producer Reg Watson, who gave up stripping when she got the lease to the local coffee shop.

Meanwhile Des fell for Daphne when she moved in to his Ramsay Street home to help him pay the mortgage, even though she was dating Des’s friend, Shane.

The pair married in July 1986 – not before Daphne’s car had been hijacked by a bank robber – but Elaine had already decided she was going to leave the soap despite its growing popularity, and was killed off in a car accident the next year. She died in Des’s arms, in one of soap’s most iconic scenes.

Paul stayed playing Des until 1990, when he was written out of Neighbours.

So what’s happened to the pair in the three decades since?

Sadly, despite being one of the most famous faces in Australia, Paul suffered from mental health problems as he dealt with fame.

In fact, it’s reported to have cost him his home, his relationship and his career.

Speaking in 2015, when he returned to Neighbours to

celebrate its 30th anniversary

, he told Australia’s Herald Sun: “I have no filter anymore. The last bastion of taboo is mental health and I think it’s important to be honest about it. I have been to hell.

“I have seen things you wouldn’t believe, been in hospitals that are like horror stories. But I have survived.”

Paul, who’s now 65, admitted to drinking heavily and taking amphetamines and painkillers, according to the publication – he even attempted suicide.

Although he’s slowly come through the other side, he believes his problems started when he was young, as he never wanted fame but didn’t know what else to do for a job.

“I never wanted any of that,” he explained. “Now you have people like Kim Kardashian. People putting videos of themselves up on YouTube. Fame has become the goal. Well I have experienced that and it was horrific. I can’t imagine what it’s like for successful actors now.”

Paul was last seen in Neighbours’ then-final episode in mid-2022 as he returned to reprise his role.

Elaine, now 61, went on to guest star in shows including rival soap Home And Away and The Flying Doctors.

But she also struggled with the idea of fame, once saying: “I found all the attention pretty overwhelming because I’m quite a private person and people would shout “stripper” at me in the street!’

In 2017 she was seen outside a school in Sydney, where she’d become a teacher.

Paul isn’t the first Neighbours actor to experience a personal battle since leaving the soap.

Actor Craig McLachlan, who played Henry Ramsay, was charged with assault and indecent assault following complaints from female co-stars in a production of the Rocky Horror Picture Show in Melbourne in 2014, during which he played the role of Frank-N-Furter.

He strongly denied the allegations against him.

He was cleared of seven counts of indecent assault and six of common law assault by a court in Melbourne, following a four-week hearing in December 2000 and awarded a $500,000 payout after his acquittal.

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