Cheryl Fergison, a national soap star, discovered that her accountant had duped her after leaving Celebrity Big Brother and with nothing.
She’s best known for playing Heather Trott in EastEnders. But away from our TV screens, Cheryl Fergison has lived a life worthy of any soap script. Now, in her explosive new autobiography, Behind The Scenes, she reveals the highs and lows of being in the spotlight, as well as the private happiness, heartbreak and tragedy she has endured.
Cheryl, who bravely revealed how she had a stroke in May and was left walking with a stick, says, “I have always worn my heart on my sleeve. I hope my story is relatable.” I have had to accept a lot of things. Before I could talk about it, I had to process it. The moment is right now.
In day two of our exclusive series, in extracts adapted from her book, she tells how she was left penniless after being scammed by her own accountant. She says: “I’m a survivor. It’s not that I’m a glass half full person; I just know I am lucky to have a glass at all.”
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“I wanted to pulverise him, really I did. I wanted to grab him by the collar and scream in his face. I wanted him to feel the crushing panic I’d felt, the betrayal and the grief,” says Cheryl, as she recounts how, in 2012, she emerged from the Celebrity Big Brother house to news that her accountant had conned her.
I paid him for five years. He hid the funds for five years without giving anything to HMRC. I had built nothing, saved nothing, and worked nothing.
I don’t say “hate” very frequently. You can’t always take back a word that’s used in this context, but I meant it. I detested him. Not just for what he did, but also for how I felt about myself.
“For the mess he left behind,” he said. For every miserable night, every tear, every humiliating phone call to the bank, the tax office, and friends trying to figure out how to keep my head above water.
Everyone expects a lot of money from you, so going broke when you’re famous is the worst. You are presumed to be minted, by some. They don’t think you’re juggling overdrafts, maxed out credit cards, payday loans, and mountain of bills. But that’s where I ended up.
“I’d just come out of one of the biggest soaps in the country, I’d done Celebrity Big Brother. I was still in the papers, still recognised in the street, but behind the scenes, I was totally skint.’”
Cheryl, of Cleveleys, Blackpool, who was in EastEnders from 2007 to 2012, was grateful for the support of her second husband Yassim al-Jemoni, 39, and son Alex, 25, by first husband Jay Saddiqi.
After eight years of marriage, she sadly divorced her first husband, Afghan refugee Jay Saddiqi, Alex’s father. She reveals how one day, when she climbed into the car, she realized he had been cheating on her.
She recalls that she was struck by the seatbelt as she pulled it across my body. a scent . Not mine, but light, sweet, floral, and powdery.
Why, Jay, can I feel the perfume on my seatbelt? I responded, “sneaking it like a bloodhound,” He slammed his head against his head, his eyes flashing in a resentment. Cheryl, you’re imagining things.
“‘ I’m not. It has a strong foundation. I can tell right away that I once again held the strap in my nose.
Jay sighed loudly and slammed his steering wheel. It’s most likely one of the young people at work. Their aftershave, perhaps? You’re acting paranoidly.
Oh, please stop.” When did the security firm’s employees first smell like duty-free perfume shops?
He walked away from the windscreen and glared at him. What do we do when we go shopping?
Every time I enter a car and buckle up my seatbelt, I smell it, to this day.
“I started to think that my husband was having an affair with me, but I was able to persuade myself that I was wrong.”
Then, a caller ID for a number Cheryl didn’t recognize showed up in a phone bill. A woman responded to her call. However, Jay was the voice on the line when she returned.
She went there to confront him and the woman after doing some “solid detective work.” She describes what she thought to be a “dingy, makeshift love nest.”
She writes: “And there, perched on the dirty bed she shared with my husband, was a skinny blonde woman, sipping a bright blue WKD like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Jay was seated next to her, caught in the headlights, and silently and still unwilling to offer any assistance. Not even an ounce of shame, not even an apology, or an explanation.
“I loaded the car up, sat Alex in his seat, and drove to London that night. leaving Jay and my marriage behind.
How I flew to Morocco tomorrow to meet my future husband.
Steve McFadden, the star of EastEnders, discusses Cheryl’s role as his “sis” in a giddy-up front of her book.
He asserts that “you can choose your friends, not your family, but occasionally someone crosses the line.” Cheryl is that. She is my sister in every way, but she is also my sister in every way. If I’d ever had a sister growing up, I would have wanted her to be like Cheryl, and she calls me “big bruv.”
Everyone who gets to know her is completely adored, hearty to the core, and full of love.
We “just clicked” right away when I met Cheryl. We laughed and snuffed each other up like two mischievous kids. No filter or judgment was used, just pure openness and that brilliant, wicked humor.
She’s the kind of person who will appear in a room full of chaos like a cheeky little meerkat, with eyes wide open, full of energy, always looking for the funny side.
“Cheryl is a breath of fresh air,” she says. She doesn’t care about negativity; she wants to lift people, make them laugh, and make them feel better.
Let’s not forget that she is a talented actress. She belongs wherever she can be seen, whether it’s on stage, in a movie, on television, or anywhere else. Her magic has come to life in person.
She even performed at my mother’s 70th birthday, singing Beatles songs all the way down the Thames while cruising on a Dutch barge, no less. Heads were definitely turning.
“Life hasn’t always been easy on her,” she says. She’s experienced a lot of knocks, far more than most, but she never let anything prevent her from getting up or letting her down for very long.
She continues to soldier despite this. Even when life throws her a curveball, she finds the gold in the grit.
