Former EastEnders legend Natalie Cassidy is a very busy woman currently. She’s written a book about motherhood, become involved in several TV projects and is appearing on Cooking With The Stars on ITV.
She also has a podcast, Life With Nat, and in a recent episode she chatted with fellow EastEnder Kellie Bright, who plays Linda Carter in the BBC soap, and opened up about her own feelings about leaving the show.
Natalie left EastEnders earlier this year, after playing the role of Sonia Fowler for 32 years. She joined the soap in 1993 and over the years was part of some of the show’s most memorable storylines.
In a statement at the time she said it was time to move on to pastures new. ‘EastEnders is in my bones so I will never forget where I started my career and I will continue to love the show,’ she said.
Now, speaking to Kellie in the podcast, she said that she has no regrets about the decision.
‘I don’t miss it, I don’t. I miss the people. It’s full on,’ she told her former colleague.
‘I do feel happier doing the things I’m doing now. I always feel like I have to say it, I loved it, I’m grateful for it but I did fall into it and that was that, and that’s what I did for 30 years, I don’t know if I was meant to do that.’
Kellie insisted that she thought Natalie was meant to do exactly that. ‘I grew up watching Sonia, like the rest of the nation, and I loved you in the show all the way through. I loved your character, what you created. You’re a brilliant actress, Nat.’
With many more strings to her bow, Natalie’s book Happy Days will be released in October. The book promises to cover a lot of ground, ‘taking her readers on a journey through the highs and lows and the changing seasons of life. From yo-yo diets to raising strong girls, coping with grief to getting acting lessons from June Brown.’
She’s also fronted a consumer rights show on Channel 4 called What’s The Big Deal: Britain’s Best Buys, while Cooking With The Stars sees her competing against stars including Jordan North, Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu and Hugh Dennis to showcase her culinary skills.
Despite all this there’s an element of life on EastEnders that Natalie does miss.
‘I loved the prep, getting the scripts,’ she recalled. ‘I never got bored of getting a script. I never felt bored or thought, “Oh, here we go, we’ve got to undo it all and do it my way and see what’s happening.” I never lost that in all of those 32 years.’
