AFTER struggling with her eating disorder, Honey Mitchell finds signs that Ben Mitchell may be going through a similar ordeal.
The EastEnders favourite played by Emma Barton makes a shocking discovery about him next week.
Times have been tough for the troublemaker played by Max Bowden.
After being raped by Lewis Butler, which almost led to the complete breakdown of his marriage, Ben has had to face the death of Lola Pearce, one of his dearest friends and the mother of his daughter Lexi.
Lola made the most of the little time she had left to live when she was diagnosed with a brain tumour but the pressure of raising Lexi and the resulting trauma from his rape left Ben in a serious predicament.
Before long, he decided to take control of the only thing he could – his food and calorie intake.
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Coming up next week on BBC One, Ben is struggling with his feelings of inadequacy ahead of Jay Brown's (Jamie Borthwick) parental hearing.
He becomes evasive when Billy Mitchell (Perry Fenwick) tries to organise a celebration in The Vic that night.
Later on, Ben looks certain to miss the court date altogether as he takes his frustrations out on a gym bag at The Boxing Den until George Knight (Colin Salmon) intervenes.
George advises Ben to be there for Lexi, no matter how he feels – how will he react?
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Jay is then relieved when Ben makes it after all, but later, at The Vic, Honey Mitchell (Emma Barton) picks up on troubled Ben's behaviour around food.
Honey went through her own eating disorder battle as a teenager and, later on, after her former partner Adam Bateman continually cheated on her.
This was enough for her to clock on Ben's discomfort around food.
She follows Ben home and tries to get him to open up to her, sharing her own experiences with bulimia.
But unable to share his pain, Ben lashes out and orders Honey to leave.
After she's gone, Ben breaks down, feeling horribly alone.
In later scenes, Honey advises a worried Callum Highway (Tony Clay) to try to get Ben to open up to him but refuses to break Ben's confidence.
Unaware that she's keeping his secret, Ben sees them together and lashes out at Honey once again, only for Billy and Jay to step in.
Lexi insists that Ben must apologise to Honey, and they later go for a coffee.
Honey begs Ben to let Callum in, and it looks like Ben will do so until a difficult conversation with Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) provokes Ben into purging again.
However, Callum arrives home early and catches Ben but when he tries to talk to him, things go horribly wrong.
But while Ben pushes everyone away, he gets unexpected support from Kat Slater (Jessie Wallace).
Kat is shocked to find Ben in a terrible state as he punches a bag at the Boxing Den again.
She soon discovers why he's so upset and offers her perspective as a fellow survivor of rape.
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Ben is immediately warned – he'll destroy himself and everyone he loves if he doesn't seek help.
This leads him to reluctantly agree to try a support group, with Kat accompanying him.
Will Ben really get the help he needs?
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How can Honey help him further?
EastEnders airs from Monday to Thursday at 7.30pm on BBC One.
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