Demi Miller

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EastEnders character

Demi Miller
Portrayed by	Shana Swash
Duration	2004–2006
Date of birth	27 January 1991
Marital status	Single
Home	27 Albert Square
Occupation	Student
Family	Keith, Rosie, Darren, Aleesha, Dawn, Mickey

Demi Miller was a fictional character in the popular BBC soap opera EastEnders. She was played by Shana Swash.

1 Arrival in Walford, and Aleesha's birth
2 Reunion with Leo
3 Leo's death
4 Demi leaves Walford
5 Family

[edit] Arrival in Walford, and Aleesha's birth

Demi giving birth.

Demi arrived in Walford at the age of 13, and immediately became the talk of the Square due to her pregnancy. Feisty and troublesome, she loved to cause trouble with her twin brother Darren. The duo regularly truanted from school, and broke into the Slater house, scaring Garry Hobbs. Nearly two months after her arrival, Demi collapsed in agony in the playground after her waters broke. Scared and alone, she begged Pauline Fowler to help her. Despite not believing Demi, after Demi scammed her days before, Pauline eventually realised the teenager was serious. With Pauline's help, she gave birth to Aleesha on 29 October 2004. Later that evening, Aleesha's father and Demi's ex-boyfriend Leo Taylor arrived with his father Ray. Clearly influenced by his vicious father, Leo was told he was to have no further contact with Demi or Aleesha.

After a wary couple of months, Demi began to bond with Aleesha, and on Christmas Eve, she told her mother Rosie that she wanted to be a proper mother to her daughter.

[edit] Reunion with Leo

In May 2005, the Millers returned to their former home in a block of flats whilst a rat problem in the square was being dealt with. Demi was reluctant, as it meant she was likely to bump into Leo. Upon their arrival, Leo's father Ray and his wife Trisha were the first people they saw, and they received a cold reception. Whilst taking Aleesha for a walk, Demi was teased by some of Darren's old friends, who mocked her and referred to her as "Vicky Pollard". Upon heading back to the flats, Demi saw Leo and tried to escape in a lift, but Leo stopped her. They realised their split had been a misunderstanding, and the two reunited. Demi told Leo that it was Aleesha's christening the following day. Despite appearing reluctant, Leo and Trisha did indeed attend the christening, however the service was interrupted by Ray, who viciously dragged his wife and son away whilst a heartbroken Demi looked on. As the feud between the Millers and the Taylors escalated, Leo planned to run away, and begged Demi to come with him. Demi agreed, but Leo abandoned her when she insisted on taking Aleesha. Demi returned to Walford, devastated, but was delighted when she met Leo near the swings. Leo promised her he'd keep in touch, and would wait as long as it took to be together.

[edit] Leo's death

Leo dying after a heroin overdose.

After numerous meetings in secret, Darren overheard Rosie and Keith saying that Leo's parents were planning to take him to live in Scotland. Darren told Demi and Leo, who at first refused to believe him, but soon realised that he was telling the truth. Demi and Leo spent one final day together, and vowed never to love anybody else. But the following day, Leo turned up on the doorstep telling Demi that he'd run away, and wanted Demi and Aleesha to go with him. After saying goodbye to Darren, Demi took Aleesha and ran away with Leo.

For days, the Millers desperately searched for the missing trio. After a phone call home in which she overheard the Millers and the Taylors arguing, Demi thought that she couldn't go home because they hated her. The young family were stuck in a squat struggling to afford to survive. Leo begged Demi to let him sell drugs one final time to make some money. Reluctantly, Demi agreed, and waited for Leo to return. Gavin, the man who gave Leo drugs, tried to kiss Demi, and told her the only way to survive was if she turned to prostitution. Shocked and upset, Demi turned to heroin.

Elsewhere, Leo was beaten up for his drugs, and left in a heap on the floor, feeling hopeless. Back in Walford, Trisha defied her husband and united with the Millers to find their missing children. Mickey and Darren narrowly missed Leo, who found one of their posters appealing for their return. Realising they were loved after all, Leo raced back to the squat to tell Demi, and found her unconscious with the heroin by her side. Believing she'd killed herself, he overdosed on the remaining heroin just as Demi woke up. Leo collapsed in her arms just as Keith, Rosie and Trisha found them.

Demi and Leo were rushed to hospital, where the Miller/Taylor feud threatened to erupt again. But after Ray promised to beat Leo for this incident, Trisha had had enough. She told Ray that as soon as Leo recovered, she was taking him to her sisters away from his violence and they were finished. At that moment, a doctor turned up and told them that Leo had died of his overdose. As Rosie entered the room, Demi guessed that Leo was dead, and turned away to cry.

[edit] Demi leaves Walford

After the traumatic death of Leo in August 2005, Demi was happy to be reunited with her family. It took a while to forgive them for hating Leo, but soon she was back hanging out with her twin again. After a few weeks of bullying, she started to settle back into school again. In October 2005, Demi celebrated Aleesha's first birthday and she was also joined by her older half sister, Dawn Swann.

Christmas arrived, and Rosie's ex-husband Mike turned up to visit Dawn and Mickey. He also told Rosie that his mum, Nora was very ill. Nora later died, bringing the two closer together, and after tiring of Keith and the family, Rosie kissed her ex-husband, but immediately regretted it. She later planned to take Demi and Darren away from Keith and live a new life together, but instead backed out and told Mike to leave them alone. Not long after, Keith found out that Rosie had kissed her ex-husband and planned to run off with him, and left her. Demi bunked off school on her 15th birthday and visited her dad, leading to Keith returning to be with the family for a brief period but he and Rosie split up again.

Keith moved back in when he proposed to Rosie. The wedding ceremony took place on 4 July 2006 at Walford Registry Office. Rosie couldn't go through with the wedding and jilted Keith during the ceremony. Rosie planned to move away with Darren, Demi and Aleesha to take on a new job as housekeeper and start a new life without Keith. Although Darren was less than happy at the news, Demi wanted to bring Aleesha up somewhere different from Albert Square. Rosie, Demi and Aleesha left Walford on 7 July 2006.