Eastenders: Anthony Trueman revealed as father of Zoe's twins

We knew Zoe Slater's return would be packed full of drama, but in 2025's explosive Christmas episodes of Eastenders we've had more than we bargained for. The iconic character, played by Michelle Ryan, revealed back in September that she gave birth to twins 19 years ago — and now we know Anthony was the father.

But that's not all... ahead of Anthony's shock death in The Vic on Christmas Day, it was revealed new girl Jasmine is one of the twins.

It had been 20 years since Zoe was last seen on The Square, before the Slater sister famed for screaming "You ain't my mother" at Kat, made an iconic comeback in June, and now she's the centre of some pretty big storylines.

Zoe's son — and Jasmine's twin brother — is yet to make an appearance.

Who is the father of Zoe's babies?

Ahead of 2025's Christmas special, it was confirmed Anthony Trueman had fathered Zoe's twins. It followed LOTS of speculation about who it could be.

You may remember one of Zoe's last storylines back in 2005 involved her relationship with Dennis Rickman (Nigel Harman), and subsequent affair with his father Dirty Den (Leslie Grantham). This lead many fans to believe one of the two men fathered her twins — and Zoe went along with those thoughts in an episode on 23rd September.

In an argument with Sharon Watts, Zoe revealed she'd slept with Dennis behind her back when she left the square 20 years ago, telling her: "You wanna know who the father is?"

After Sharon argued it couldn't possibly be her dad, Zoe told her: "Not your dad's... Your husband's! Twenty years ago, Dennis Rickman slept with me. That's right Sharon, your precious Dennis. He got me pregnant."

After questioning Zoe about the miscarriage she had when she was last in the square, Zoe told her: "I ain't talking about that baby. Where was he (Dennis) the day I left eh? He came to see me."

Sharon asked her: "So what you saying, you had a quick bunk up behind my back?" To which Zoe replied: "Yeah!"

But it seemed that was all part of a plan to get Sharon to help fund the search for her missing son. As it was later revealed Anthony was in fact the dad.

Who is Zoe's daughter on Eastenders?

In a shock episode on 15th December 2025, it was revealed Zoe's daughter is Jasmine Fisher, a new character who had been acting pretty shifty in the last few months. She is also the girlfriend of Oscar Branning, who returned to The Square along with his dad, Max in the autumn.

Who is Zoe's son on Eastenders?

While it's been revealed Zoe's daughter is Jasmine Fisher, there's no clue yet whether we have even met Zoe's son before. Perhaps he'll join The Square in 2026.

Theories had previously been filling the internet suggesting Zoe's estranged son was none other than Joel Marshall (Max Murray) — step-son to Vicki Fowler who recently moved over from Australia.

But the timeline revealed Joel was too young to be the mystery Slater son, as Zoe's baby would now be 19-years-old, while Joel is still of school age.

Following an episode on 3rd September, fans took to the comments section to share their thoughts, with one writing: 'I'm stunned 😦 just incredible 👏👏👏👏Kat& Zoe brilliant 👏👏👏but pls pls don’t let Zoe be Joel mudder!!!! ( mum )' (sic).

Meanwhile another fan spotted the link with Max's insistent phone calls and his son, Oscar, writing: 'The only boy on the square around that age is Oscar'.

These theories were later proven to be wrong.

Who shot Zoe?

We saw Jack and Ravi have a scuffle over a gun in 2nd September's episode, with the gun accidentally going off in one of their hands. So, although Kat and Zoe don't know it yet, the shot wasn't intentional.

What did Michelle Ryan say about her return to Eastenders?

Michelle Ryan, who plays Zoe, previously said "worlds aligned" to enable her return, and she's excited to be back.

Michelle said: “It feels like coming home. After doing my first few scenes, it was like I’d never been away.

“I can’t say too much as there is a lot of drama to come, but Zoe is a mess. She’s not the girl that left Walford twenty years ago, and she’s been really struggling on her own. She has her defences up, but this week you will see that she needs help, but whether she is willing to accept it is another story.

“It all happened at the right time. I’d already been thinking about a return because I’d met up with Kacey Ainsworth (Little Mo) and Kim Medcalf (Sam Mitchell) and we were reminiscing our fond memories of the show, and I’d also joined social media and saw that there was still a lot of love for the character. It just so happened that at the same time, EastEnders had announced a new Exec who was keen to explore the potential of a return as he was such a massive fan of Zoe and the Slaters, so both of our worlds aligned at the right time, and I’m so excited to be back. When Ben pitched me the storylines, and when I read the scripts, I knew it was the right decision.”

In 2001, we discovered the youngest Slater sister, Zoe, was in fact the daughter of Walford’s iconic Kat Slater (played by Jessie Wallace) — and the pair have since become estranged, following more than two decades of resentment.

Now she's back, meeting her siblings for the first time, and coming face-to-face with the newly-remarried Kat Moon.

When did Zoe leave EastEnders?

Zoe left The Square in 2005, after her relationship with Dennis Rickman (Nigel Harman) saw her caught up in the murder of Den Watts, alongside Chrissie Watts (Tracy-Ann Oberman) and Sam Mitchell.

When did Zoe Slater return to EastEnders?

She returned on Monday 16th June 2025 — when it was revealed she'd been staying with second cousin, Stacey Slater. You can catch up on the episode on BBC iPlayer now.

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