A Harry Potter and Eastenders extra is locked in a £435,000 inheritance fight with her mum – who she claims "ignored" her as a child.
Charlotte Hepworth-Bell, 34, is battling her mum Heather Hepworth, 65, over money she claims she is owed from her dead gran's will.
Charlotte says she was left to "cope on her own" as a youngster and as an adult cannot work a full-time job.
She depended on her gran, Elaine Hepworth, for financial support before her death in 2016.
But she was left out of the pensioner's will and is now going head-to-head with her mum at the High Court over a £200,000 share of the estate, which includes a £310,000 home in Hertford.
Charlotte wants money to buy her own home and become "financially independent" but her mum says she should get nothing because it is now time for her "to stand on her own two feet."
The court heard Elaine split her estate between three of her four kids, with Heather getting half, and Charlotte says the pensioner had "trusted" Heather to use some of her inheritance to help her.
But Heather insists she only inherited so much because she looked after Elaine before her death.
Judge Owen Rhys heard Charlotte has suffered with difficulties since childhood, but was only diagnosed with Asperger's as an adult. She also has OCD and crippling anxiety.
Her problems mean that although she went to university and has a degree in environmental biology, she has never been able to work a full-time job, relying instead on irregular and low-paid jobs, Charlotte says.
Working for the BBC, she appeared in EastEnders and Holby City, and also worked on the Harry Potter movie franchise, as well as being a singer and a dog sitter, she told the judge in her evidence.
'UNCERTAIN EXISTENCE'
In her final years, Charlotte's gran paid more than £6,000 towards her rent, as well as buying her furniture.
Charlotte, now unable to earn enough to cover the rent, faces the "unrelenting uncertainty of her existence" in fear of being thrown out and left homeless.
"Without financial aid, I won't have a home," she told the judge.
"I have never been able to have a full-time job.
"I have had part-time work, I have done extras work, I have worked with disabled people. These are things I enjoy, but they're not lucrative careers.
"I want to be financially independent from my family, because it's terrible to not be.
"To have my own place and not rely on the whims of my family, that's my ultimate goal in this."
She told the judge she had felt "pressurised" to earn more by her mum, but that she felt she would "crumble" under her anxiety if she had to.
As a child, her mum had failed to take her to the doctor despite her difficulties socialising and understanding other's emotions, she claimed.
"I was incredibly ill when I was growing up and I was ignored," she said.
"It wasn't until I was 23 and living on my own that I took myself off to the doctors.
"I even said I was being bullied at school but I wasn't allowed to change schools. In the end, I stopped going to school."
HELP WANTED
Her barrister Araba Taylor argued that the reason Heather got half of Elaine's estate, while two of her siblings got a quarter each, was because Elaine had wanted her to help Charlotte.
"Charlotte's evidence is that her gran said something would be left in her will in order to let her buy somewhere. She trusted you to do the right thing, didn't she?" she put to Heather.
But the mum replied: "She left me that extra money because I was the one who was around all the time. I was the one who supported her and cared for her."
She denied leaving Charlotte "to cope on her own" with her difficulties, insisting she and Charlotte's dad had done all they could to help her as a child.
"We tried very hard to get her to have as many interests as possible, as many opportunities as possible," she said.
Her barrister, Ruth Hughes, argued that the grandmother did not understand what she was doing when she guaranteed Charlotte's tenancy and did not expect to ever have to pay.
She only did so when the landlord threatened to sue.
Charlotte was not a "dependent" of her gran and does not need money for a home, as she already has her own, the barrister continued.
Although Charlotte disputes it and claims they have split, she has in recent times been living with her boyfriend David Jones, Mrs Hughes claimed, and it was only when her mum discovered that Charlotte had moved out that she stopped paying towards the rent.
"It is already five years since the deceased died and so Charlotte should be – and indeed is – able to stand on her own two feet making her new life together with David," said the barrister.
She added: "In the circumstances, Charlotte was not wholly or partly maintained by the deceased immediately prior to her death.
"Charlotte is intelligent and determined. She gained three A-levels at B to C grades and attended university."
A fourth sibling, Joy Gilson, 67, got nothing from the will and has already been involved in a court row, the judge was told.
Heather told the court she believes Joy is the driving force behind Charlotte's claim, but Charlotte denied that and Joy was not called to give evidence herself.
The judge reserved his judgment on the case until a later date.
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