Natalie Cassidy, who made her first appearance in the London-based programme EastEnders when she was just ten years old, is perhaps best known for playing the Sonia Fowler role in the BBC soap EastEnders. The actress has been a regular guest on the soap for 32 years, but she announced she would stop shortly after her fans were so disappointed.
The final moments of Sonia’s life will be captured on camera in February, but it will be interesting to see whether the beloved character ends up in the traditional soap opera or exits in a new memorable way. Natalie said she was “very excited” but “extremely sad” when she announced her decision to leave Walford behind.
The mother-of-two lives pretty busy off-screen, even though she only confirmed that in her message that she was leaving for “pastures new.” When she’s not working on EastEnders, she’s recording her podcast series, Life With Nat, where she chats away to family, friends, and the occasional celebrity guest about their lives.
As her Instagram bio states, Natalie describes herself as a “mum, fiancée, auntie, actress, podcaster, and joker”. The actress serves as an ambassador for brands and organizations.
Away from her non-acting work commitments, Natalie lives with her fiancée, cameraman Marc Humphreys, and two children, Eliza and Joanie. She previously described Marc as her “soulmate”, and the pair met in 2014 when he worked on several episodes of EastEnders.
Just a few months after declaring their pregnancy, they tied the knot in 2015, with the name Joanie.
Natalie’s eldest child, Eliza, has a different father to Joanie. Her dad is Adam Cottrell, who was in an on-and-off relationship with Natalie for several years from 2009 before splitting for good in 2013 “after a lot of misery”.
Although Marc and Natalie haven’t yet tied the knot, they have already restored their romance faith. The actress opened up about wedding plans during a conversation on the Memory Lane podcast. She stated: “Do you know what? It’s a lot of money. No, I tell you what it is, it’s time and budget. It is because I go, ‘ I’ll only do something small, I don’t need to… ‘
” I will do it small, but I want to be at The Ledbury. Oh, I want a Michelin star meal or I’m just a bit of a snob genuinely. I’ll want the best flowers, and I will want a designer suit. “
In September, Natalie opened up about her personal life with OK! Magazine. She revealed that” everything is very hectic “and addressed dealing with” mum guilt”.
” I get mum guilt all the time, 100 per cent, “she admitted”. And I believe that’s the justification for more discussion. I don’t think you understand until you have children. People saying, ‘ Don’t have children if you want a career ‘ is ridiculous. It’s an ignorant thing to say.
“We’re not living in the 1950s, Dad doesn’t go to work while Mum stays at home. However, we lack the resources to provide for working families. The childcare right now just doesn’t work. Therefore, everything needs to be examined and altered.
The 41 year old does have a nanny to help with her childcare responsibilities. She explained: “Obviously, you pay a price for having]a nanny], but we wouldn’t be able to do everything without secure and solid childcare. Our responsibilities are split equally between us on the days that we can.
Family has always been important to Natalie, and she took care of her father, Charles, during his final days in 2021 after he moved into her home when his health declined. “I bought my current house for him really because it has an annexe”, she explained.
Recalling that time, Natalie said: “I was only a carer for him at the very end of his life. I look back, and I don’t actually know how I did it, but I had help from my mother-in-law. Really, the juggling of various generational care is a whole other ball game.
Natalie’s relationship with her late father strengthened following the tragic loss of her mother, Evelyn, who died from bowel cancer in 2002 when Natalie was 19 years old.
“That was an age where you don’t want to be at home and you don’t want to be with your parents”, she told OK! You come back in your 20s and want to be with your mother, and I felt robbed of that.
The star added: “I’ve always felt very guilty that she left the world thinking that I didn’t care. I know she knew that I did, because she’d been a young girl herself and understood, but that was a hard thing to deal with. and that I continue to deal with today.
Source: Mirror
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