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Chelsea Fox (legally Atkins) is the daughter of Lucas Johnson and Denise Fox and half sister of Libby and Raymond Fox. Additionally, she is the estranged wife of Gray Atkins and mother of Jordan Fox. She made her first appearance on 2 May 2006.
Storylines
2006-2010: Arrival, drug problem, meeting Lucas and departure
Although, Sean is promiscuous and pursues other women, including Tanya and Carly Wicks, while Chelsea wants a serious relationship.
Two months later, Lucas appears.
Chelsea gets her job back at Booty. She runs away with Ellis, leaving a note for her family but returns on Libby's birthday, demanding to know why Libby's grandmother, Liz Turner is in Albert Square, forcing her to admit she has been visiting her father, Owen Turner, in prison and is glad that he is going to be released. Chelsea is cautious of her family's safety when Owen returns to the Square, and pleads with him not to bring up the suspicious death of Lucas's ex-wife, Trina Johnson, again as Denise was a suspect and could get in trouble.
When Jack is shot and hospitalised, Chelsea declares her love for him and stays with him in hospital but Jack ends it as he is still in love with Ronnie. Amira's is negative but Chelsea's is positive. She decides to keep the baby but decides not to tell Jack as it would not change anything but she does not want to be a single mother. After Denise sees Chelsea crying and spending time with Zainab Masood's baby, Kamil Masood, she tells Libby that she thinks Chelsea is pregnant. Chelsea admits it when Denise asks her and they have a heart-to-heart, which Lucas joins in. She takes the test again and realises she is not pregnant but tells her parents that she'll make her own decisions.
Chelsea goes on to celebrate her birthday and discovers Denise has put a picture of Chelsea in the newspaper wearing a cowboy suit. Much to Chelsea's embarrassment, so she decides to buy all the newspapers so people will not mock her. When Roxy discovers it is Chelsea's birthday she decides to throw her a western themed birthday. Chelsea starts to fall for the DJ but Roxy is caught kissing him.
Chelsea wonders who her mother really is and says it makes her some kind of monster. Chelsea believes that her mother killed Owen and then herself. After Denise's funeral, Chelsea and Libby agree to start packing up Denise's belongings. While celebrating Libby's birthday, Denise walks in, revealing that she is not dead but that Lucas has been keeping her prisoner, and that he killed Trina and Owen. Chelsea tells her to stay away from her, calling her a murderer. Lucas enters and confirms that Denise is telling the truth but Chelsea says he is covering up for her and she faked her own death. However, Lucas takes the family hostage, but when Jordan arrives, they escape and Lucas is arrested.
Chelsea says she no longer has a normal family, and argues with Libby over their parents. After speaking to Liz, Chelsea decides she wants to move to Spain with her, as people in Walford will only ever think of her as the daughter of a murderer.
2020-2025: Return, marriage to Gray, becoming a mother and the crowd crush
After an argument with Denise, Chelsea leaves with Lucas. Patrick, in cooperation with Raymond's father Phil Mitchell, meets Chelsea at The Queen Victoria to find out about Lucas' whereabouts. Phil is blamed for Lucas's attack, but it is Chelsea's ex-boyfriend Caleb Malone who arranged Lucas's attack. Chelsea is indebted to Caleb after fleecing him and she is planning on using Lucas to smuggle drugs for Caleb. Chelsea arranges to travel to Spain with Lucas, planning to use him to smuggle drugs, but ultimately fails. Denise confronts Lucas about upsetting Chelsea, and they both go missing. Chelsea finds blood in Lucas's flat, and believes that Lucas has hurt Denise and kidnapped her, but Chelsea later discovers that Caleb is responsible. Denise discovers the truth and reluctantly agrees to help Chelsea frame Lucas. They try to convince Lucas to follow Chelsea to Ibiza, but he later discovers their intentions. Lucas vows to kill Caleb but Chelsea threatens to abandon Lucas, having not forgiving him for faking Denise's death, and warns him that Caleb will kill her. When Denise's boyfriend and Chelsea's ex-lover Jack discovers Chelsea's plan, she attempts to seduce him to stop him from reporting her to the police. Lucas is ashamed of Chelsea's behaviour, and refuses to do the job unless she follows him to church, where he tells Chelsea to go to the police and face imprisonment. After a heart to heart, Lucas agrees to do the job, but changes his mind leaving Chelsea alone. He is later arrested after being caught, and Chelsea later tips the police off when Caleb asks her to meet him, and he is arrested.
Chelsea begins a relationship with Gray Atkins in June 2021, which is met with strong opposition by his mother and father-in-law Karen Taylor and Mitch Baker. During their relationship, Chelsea fleeces Gray by living extravagantly off his credit card and shows no interest in his children, Mia and Mackenzie Atkins, frequently neglecting them when they are in her care. Their relationship comes to an end, when Chelsea witnesses Gray's volatile behaviour towards her and others, and refuses to be mistreated by Gray. However, Chelsea later discovers she has been impregnated by Gray, and plans to have an abortion, but is stopped by Gray's fling, Whitney Dean. Whitney accompanies her to the abortion clinic, but after having a scan and finding out she is further along than expected, Chelsea decides to keep the baby. She decides to keep the pregnancy a secret from Gray and to raise the child alone, but Whitney urges her to tell Gray. Gray finds out about Chelsea's pregnancy and initially agrees to have no involvement, but has a change of heart and decides that he wants to raise the child together with Chelsea. They later get engaged. On the day of their wedding, Whitney reveals to Chelsea that Gray had murdered his wife Chantelle Atkins. Chelsea decides to stop the wedding but is manipulated by Gray, who reveals that Whitney had kissed him. They eventually marry on Christmas Day 2021, but Chelsea later discovers Gray’s abuse on Chantelle, when Whitney sends her screenshots of Chantelle’s revelation of the abuse that she posted online. She then vows to leave Gray. She steals money from Ruby's and plans on fleeing to Ibiza, but is stopped in her tracks by Gray, when he realises that she has stolen jewellery. When Gray confronts Chelsea, her waters break, and she is rushed to hospital, where she goes into premature labour, with Gray helping her. She gives birth to a son, Jordan Atkins, named after her deceased half-brother. Chelsea decides to stay with Gray, but later reveals to Whitney that she is temporarily using him for stability, and is planning to expose him.
On 7 March 2022, Gray is questioned by police about the discovery of Tina's body. He provides a DNA sample before speaking to DCI Peter Arthurs. Gray is annoyed that he has been brought to answer questions and believes they want to make him a suspect. He abruptly leaves the interrogation room.
On 9 March 2022, Chelsea is able to get Gray to confess that he killed Chantelle. However, unbeknownst to Gray, Chelsea is on the line to the police and his confession has been recorded. After he finds out, he attempts to strangle Chelsea but she manages to save herself and punches Gray. She tries to run out of the door but is pulled back by Gray. He shoves her onto a table before running out the back door after he hears the police arrive. After Mitch and Whitney stop Gray from jumping off a bridge, Gray is later arrested.
After Gray is arrested, Chelsea thinks about having Jordan adopted as she struggles knowing that she got married to a serial killer, however Denise persuades Chelsea to not go through with the adoption when they have a heart-to-heart. Whitney moves in with Chelsea to help pay the rent and look after Jordan, but they are evicted after finding out that Gray had stopped paying the rent. This causes Chelsea to move back into 20 Albert Square.
Chelsea starts working at Ruby's to earn money when Sam Mitchell takes over. She moves back into 1 Albert Square with Whitney, but in order to pay the rent they allow Felix and Finlay Baker to move in.
When Chelsea enters the Cafe, her step-sister Amy Mitchell is sitting alone, looking upset. Chelsea asks Amy if she's crying over a boy, and offers to get Amy a milkshake but Amy declines the offer. Chelsea then sits next to Amy, reminding her they are step-sisters and that means Chelsea won't tell her off like a parent. Chelsea gets Amy to laugh by saying she knows Amy thinks she's ancient as she was born in the nineties, then corrects herself by saying the eighties, and admitting she is ancient, but not out of touch. Amy then tells Chelsea about the picture that Denzel Danes and Davinder Gulati posted of her online, and Chelsea asks her if she asked them to take it down, and Amy says they won't and that it's going to be screenshotted and shared around. Amy then shows Chelsea the photo, and Chelsea recognises Denzel's Instagram. Chelsea then goes to 20 Albert Square and uses her old key to get in and confronts the boys when they're playing games. Chelsea greets them and Davinder asks who she is, and she replies by saying she's someone who needs their full attention before unplugging the games console. Chelsea then says Denzel has made himself quite at home and that it's quite nice he's made friends as the last thing he wants to do is make enemy's when he's moved somewhere new, and says it applies to Davinder as well. Davinder says he's done nothing, but Chelsea says it's not true as Amy has said that two grubby little boys have taken an inappropriate photo of an underage schoolgirl and blasted it all over social media. Chelsea asks Denzel if Amy asked him to take it down, and he says yes, and Chelsea forces him to delete it in front of her, telling the boys not to mess with her sister again.
The next day, Amy speaks to Denise and Chelsea on the bench in the square gardens, and shows the two the cuts on her legs from trying to shave them. Denise says she's seen worse, and tells Amy that she had a lady in the salon the other day who had spelt wax in “a place far too delicate to mention.” Amy says she feels like an idiot, and Chelsea asks if Denzel had apologised yet, to which Amy replies to with no. Denise tells Amy that she can't think of anything more difficult than being a thirteen year old girl and says that if she needs to talk then she can come to her and Chelsea.
In early 2023, Chelsea becomes close with Ravi Gulati, although he is using her to make Denise jealous after she rejected him in favour of her husband Jack. After Denise warns him to stop messing with CHelsea, he turns Chelsea. After this, Chelsea briefly sleeps with Keanu Taylor, however Chelsea soon ends the relationship when she sees that Keanu is still in love with his ex-girlfriend, Sharon Watts. This causes Chelsea to resumer her relationship Ravi again, but it is revealed through a phone call that he is only using her to gain information on Jack's investigation of him. After Denise warns Chelsea about Ravi, Chelsea clashes with her. When Ravi is eventually arrested by Callum Highway for the possession of stolen goods, Chelsea offers him a false alibi as she believes he is in love with her. However when Denise reveals her affair with Ravi to Jack, he quickly tells Chelsea and she realises that she was being used by Ravi and subsequently she ends their relationship.
As Ravi is walking through the Square he catches Finlay and Felix staring at him and asks them what are they looking at, Zack calms him down and takes him for a chat. Ravi reveals to Zack that he wants to win Chelsea back, Zack tells Ravi that if he wants to win Chelsea back then he should get in Finlay and Felix's good book as they're Chelsea's friends. Ravi takes this advice and offers to help Finlay and Felix with their business ventures, Finlay and Felix reluctantly agree and shake Ravi's hand. Chelsea walks in to the Vic and catches them talking to Ravi and is furious and about to fall out with them, but is convinced by Whitney to forgive them. When they go back into the Vic Whitney, Felix and Finlay catch Ravi and Chelsea looking at each other from across the bar. The three encourage Chelsea to talk to him and Chelsea tells them that he has one more chance. Ravi later spots Chelsea struggling to lift Jordan in his pram up the stairs and offers to help, Ravi then clocks on that Chelsea is talking to him again and apologises for hurting Chelsea, Chelsea tells Ravi that she doesn't hate him and that she doesn't want things to be awkward for the two. Ravi then asks Chelsea to start again and go on a date and Chelsea replies "maybe". Ravi texts Chelsea while she's doing a shift at Peggy's asking to get back together, Chelsea tells Gina Knight and Keanu that she has said no to Ravi.
In July 2023, Chelsea's abusive serial killer ex-husband Gray Atkins writes Chelsea a letter telling her that he still loves her, which freaks Chelsea out. She ends up only telling Ravi about this, and he comforts Chelsea but when he attempts to seduce her she orders him to leave and again tells Ravi that they are not getting back together. When Chelsea holds a party in 1 Albert Square but doesn't invite Ravi, he decides to gate-crash the party with the intention of making Chelsea jealous of him and another girl. He flirts with and goes to sleep with Daisy, but when Chelsea sees this she tells her about the things he did, causing Daisy to leave the party after calling him a sleaze. Ravi then calls Chelsea jealous and leaves, however Chelsea follows him and the two argue before eventually kissing and sleeping together.
The next day Chelsea contemplates whether she should get back with Ravi or not, and after conversations with Whitney Dean and Patrick Trueman she decides to go to Walford East to tell Ravi it's over, however Chelsea is surprised to see Ravi has made a romantic meal for her. Chelsea agrees to take Ravi back if he stops seeing other women to which Ravi agrees, and Chelsea and Ravi later have sex in Peggy's after Chelsea turns off the CCTV system. Keanu steals £10,000 of Phil's money from the safe to pay Lisa Fowler, and when Phil finds out about Chelsea deliberately turning off the CCTV to have sex when she was supposed to be working, he blames Chelsea and fires her. In order to make it up to Chelsea, Ravi convinces Phil to give Chelsea her job back, to which she is relieved.
When Whitney and Zack start looking at houses to move out and Ravi finds out they can't afford it he secretly gives Zack a deposit, when Denise discovers that Ravi is moving in with Chelsea Denise disapproves and secretly steals Ravi's laptop and watches footage of Ravi killing Ranveer Gulati. However, Ravi catches her and destroys a laptop and pins her against a wall but Denise manages to escape and runs over to Chelsea's house and tells Jack, Chelsea and Suki that Ravi killed Ranveer. Ravi then turns up and denies Denise's accusation however to Ravi surprise Chelsea believe him and dumps him and kicks him out of the house. Suki also believes Denise but pretends with Ravi that she doesn't and later visits Denise and asks to know everything. Chelsea goes to see Denise and tells her that her and Ravi are over and she is going to see to see Libby for a few days but warns Denise to stay away from the Ravi and the Panesar's due to then being dangerous, Ravi later sees Chelsea and attempts to reconcile but Chelsea refuses to talk to him. Denise and Suki later report Ravi to the police for killing Ranveer but the police refuse to arrest him due to lack of evidence, Denise and Suki later plan to record Ravi confessing to Ranveer's murder. However, Ravi overhears them.
When Dean Wicks returns later sees his ex-fling and sister-in-law Chelsea and attempts to have a conversation with her, however she tells him that she knows that he raped Linda Carter. Dean tells Chelsea that he didn't rape Linda but Chelsea doesn't believe him and walks away. Linda sees Chelsea with Dean just as she's leaving and later talk to Chelsea about Dean, however Chelsea tells Linda that she believes her.
Towards the beginning of 2024, Denise’s behaviour becomes more concerning and Chelsea doesn’t realise at first, but once other family members become concerned, Chelsea steps up and tries to figure out what is going on. Despite this, it’s too late for Chelsea to make a move as Denise had ran away whilst seeing visions, Jack and Stacey manage to get her home but then Mental Health Services are called and upon examination, they conclude that Denise is showing signs of psychosis and must be sectioned. Chelsea then guides her to an ambulance and allows Denise to recover.
Whilst recovering, Chelsea takes care of Denise’s family and helps out where needed. A month or so later, Denise is released and they arrange a barbecue for Stacey and her children to attend to help Denise settle back into normal life. Things take a turn for the worse when Martin shows up and discovers that Jack and Stacey are having an affair. Martin then acts more aggressive and is warned by Chelsea to stop for Denise’s sake - despite this, Martin reveals the affair to the children and everyone else around and Chelsea is bewildered by the news and furiously slaps Stacey, and almost attacks her. Jack and Martin then begin fighting and Chelsea allows Denise to move into 1 Albert Square with her and Jordan.
After some time, Denise is okay on her own and Chelsea is satisfied, she moves out of Chelsea’s and goes to Phil’s. Though, Yolande speaks to Chelsea and expresses that she has a plan of Jordan getting baptised, Chelsea is reluctant at first but Yolande manages to convince her that it’s a good idea. When Chelsea proposes to use Pastor Gideon Clayton for the baptism, Yolande pleads with her not to, but refuses to say why, Chelsea then refuses and still goes ahead with the baptism. At the baptism, things initially go well and Jordan is successfully baptised, until Yolande panics and runs away, confusing the family. A few hours later, Yolande returns home and tells the family that she was sexually assaulted by the Pastor, hence her abrupt behaviour. Chelsea and others are supportive and encourage her to speak to the police.
Chelsea later arranges a promo night for Penny Branning at Peggy's. Penny manipulates Chelsea into drinking on the job, and is caught by Phil. Chelsea is then sacked and Penny spitefully takes the job, insulting Chelsea and belittling her. Chelsea attempts to tell Phil about Penny's true ways but Phil doesn't listen, and employs Penny. Chelsea's problems escalate when Gray decides to sell the house, shocking Chelsea - Johnny Carter informs Chelsea that she can take legal action, though Chelsea backs down and accepts that she needs to relocate. Chelsea continues to clash with Penny and sabatoges the booking for a Carnival at Peggy's - causing a crush. Amy and Lauren are critically injured and Chelsea quickly feels the guilt when they are hospitalised. The police turn a blind eye to Chelsea and accuse Penny, so Penny tries to find evidence that she's innocent, Chelsea makes up the excuse that there was a glitch in the system.
Fight count
Punches
Total: 2
Individual characters punched: 2
Total punches: 2
Slaps
- Stacey Slater (15 January 2007)
- Carly Wicks (31 May 2007) (during a fight with Carly)
- Kevin Wicks (5 June 2007)
- Stacey Slater (27 August 2007) (during a fight with Stacey)
- Denise Fox (26 November 2009)
- Stacey Slater (19 March 2024)
Total: 6
Individual characters slapped: 4
Total slaps: 6
Background information
- It is unknown if Chelsea and Gray Atkins got divorced after separating when she got him sent to prison, as no dialogue on-screen as of 2025 has confirmed if they have divorced or not.