After meeting online, former EastEnders star Cheryl Fergison fell for a man 21 years her junior, and their wedding was a nightmare.
Finding fame playing hapless Heather Trott in EastEnders, Cheryl Fergison’s rollercoaster life is as dramatic as any Albert Square plot. Now, as she approaches 60, her bombshell autobiography, Behind The Scenes, gives a candid insight into some of her most memorable moments.
In part three of our exclusive series, in extracts adapted from her book, Cheryl reveals how she met her Moroccan husband Yassine el Jamouni, 39 – who is 21 years her junior – for the first time, after falling in love while they chatted online.
And, in the words of her great pal and EastEnders stalwart, Steve McFadden, who wrote the foreword to her book: “When Cheryl tells a story, people listen. She is engaging and holds court like no one else.”
According to Cheryl, “Yassine, or Yas, as I came to call him, was warm, funny, and never-endingly curious.”
I had a 45-year-old divorce and had to balance working and raising my child. He was 24 years old, residing in a Agadir, Morocco suburb, fixed computers in hotels, spoke Arabic, and was teaching himself English from tourists, television, music, and now, me. We began texting each other late at night, and essentially we were his human Duolingo.
He sent her selfies with his family, which led to their online friendship.
“Of course, I was struck by his handsome brooding appearance, caramel skin, and skillful stubble, but the conversation also felt innocent.”
Cheryl continues, “Soon, we were messaging every single day,” in EastEnders at the time. After a long day of filming, I would drive home from the set and watch as if Yas had written, which would present a small flurry of messages like modern love letters that were all awaiting to be opened.
Yas’s curiosity was only heightened by her reluctance to reveal too much about herself.
Cheryl writes, “His next message popped up a second later: “I don’t understand. Do you belong to MI5? I yelled. It was so ridiculous to imagine me posing with a handgun, drinking matinis, and defusing bombs in Albert Square between takes.
She eventually admitted to having trust issues and was a “larger lady,” and they eventually started making nightly Skype audio calls. Yas was having a serious relationship with Cheryl.
She states, “He began saying, Goodnight beautiful, on each call.
He said, “I think I love you,” just before hanging up one night.
I said, “I think I love you too, too,” in a heartbeat.
She kept getting angry until one night, when she shut her laptop down, she said, “I’m going to meet this man.”
As she waited for a flight to Casablanca, Morocco, where she would board a 35-minute transfer to Yas’ hometown of Agadir, EastEnders fans recognized her as she found herself in Gatwick Airport.
The panic started to permeate the place once there.
She states, “My heart started to pound.” I’m unable to breathe. I’m unable to breathe. Why am I here, exactly?
You flew to a country you’ve never visited before to meet a man you’ve never met in person. You don’t even speak the language. Are you completely insane?
Yas was nowhere to be seen when I looked around for him. My trusty battered black case with the purple ribbon fastened to the handle slammed against me as I searched for my bottle of water in my bag, hands shaking.
When I bent to grab it, a second hand reached down as well. Yas’s hand, not his hand, was it. And there he was.
She recalls Yas telling her, “I knew the moment I saw you, Cheryl,” just months later. that I would marry you and that I would be my future wife. “
And when she eventually accepted his proposal and told her EastEnders pal Steve McFadden, she writes: “Steve gave a low chuckle and stood up to pull me into one of his trademark bear hugs. ‘Blimey,’ he said, giving me a squeeze, ‘it only took you going halfway across the world to find a bloke….You’d better tell the scriptwriters then. Heather Trott getting a Moroccan husband might be the best storyline they’ve had in years!’”
However, their romantic wedding on May 2, 2011 was not.
She describes the wedding as “the worst I’ve ever attended.” In the Agadir register office, Yas and I were standing alone. It was a tiny, tiled room, which resembled a public restroom in all respects. The man who wed looked like Mr. Bean’s spitting image.
“Married by a Moroccan version of Mr. Bean in a tiled toilet. Only my life, to be honest”!
Cheryl was informed that she needed a hysterectomy after being diagnosed with womb cancer in 2015.
She writes, “The doctor entered, gently closed the door behind him, and gave me that look.” I’m really sorry, Cheryl, he softly said. Not encouraging news, then. You are cancerous. Stage II womb cancer
I was watching myself watch an episode of EastEnders, and it felt like a soap opera.
“Am I going to die?,” I asked myself at first. How do I tell Alex about my second? Yas then appeared in my head. He was in Morocco. He would say what? When he realized kids were completely unattainable, would he still want me?
Why me, I wanted to scream.
I desired the director to yell “cut,” and that the scene would be over and that I could leave the set.
“But something sprang from within the shock and sadness. I’d previously been knocked down, and I’d always sat up straight. “I could do it again.”
She had some tragi-comic experiences that many menopausal women will identify with, including an early menopause caused by her hysterectomy.
She writes, “The next morning, I go to heat up some milk and there they are,” after going through her keys for a long time one night. The bloody microwave has my keys inside. Cheryl, you are amazing. top grades Why do they even exist in a microwave? Did I intend to defrost them?
“It turns out that having no womb results in hormonal doom,” she said. We’re talking about night sweats, brain fog, hot flashes that make you feel like you’re slow roasting in an oven, and other unpleasant emotions. Isn’t being a woman just marvellous?
Source: Mirror
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