SHE once shocked the nation by losing four stone in four months – then put it all back on in eight weeks, admitting: “I’d look like a supermodel if it weren’t for mayonnaise.”
But Natalie Cassidy is not about to go back to those yo-yo days, after she quit playing Sonia Fowler in EastEnders to explore other TV work, host a podcast, write a memoir and enjoy time with her family.
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Natalie, 42, currently starring on ITV1’s Cooking With The Stars, says she is finally “enjoying being myself” and has no time for the obsessive dieting that consumes many of her showbiz peers.
She told the Radio Times: “I think, ‘If this is the size I’m meant to be, I need to be happy with that’.
“I don’t overeat. I enjoy my food.
“I like a glass of wine, I like a packet of crisps, but you can’t do it every day. Everything in moderation.
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“If I go the other way and want to lose a lot of weight, my days aren’t as good. I could be doing a bit more exercise at the moment, but I can’t be bothered.”
Natalie lost four stone for a fitness DVD, called Then And Now, which she released in 2007.
She then put out another fitness DVD, The Perfect 10 — and has become talked about for her ups and downs on the weighing scales as much as for her exploits as Albert Square’s Sonia.
She was paid £100,000 for the first DVD and an unknown sum for the next — but many reckoned her mega-slim in 2007 never suited her.
Natalie swiftly put that weight back on — tucking in to her favourite food and admitting she could “eat for England” — and she now reckons her big slim “wasn’t a good move”.
She said afterwards: “I was very overweight and they approached me and said, ‘Listen, we’re going to give you £100,000, we’re going to get you really fit and you’re going to lose four stone’.
I was like, ‘Happy days’. I just thought, ‘That’s a lot of money’, but it wasn’t the right thing to do.”
After the first DVD, and losing then gaining all that weight, Natalie took part in Strictly Come Dancing in 2009.
But she felt she got fat-shamed by producers when asked to lift her Italian pro partner Vincent Simone — a job that usually falls to the man.
She later said: “I was about four stone bigger than I am now, Vincenzo was quite little.
“I think about it now and think, ‘Oh, that was out of order. You couldn’t do that now.”
Thankfully, her days of yo-yoing weight, and caring what people think about her, are now long gone and Natalie reckons it is partly a result of settling down and starting a family, which has given her a new focus.
She met EastEnders cameraman Marc Humphreys in 2014, got engaged the next year then in 2016 had daughter Joanie, now eight.
She also has a 15-year-old, Eliza, from a previous relationship with transport manager Adam Cottrell.
‘NATURAL DECISION ‘
The new chapter in her life has also been a factor in finally calling time on EastEnders after becoming one of its biggest and best-loved stars as trumpet-playing Sonia.
She joined the BBC soap as a child star in 1993, aged ten, and her first stint ran for 14 years until 2007. Two further stints then followed, from 2010 to 2011 and 2014 to 2025.
Natalie has been given a series of corking storylines over the years. From Sonia’s pregnancy aged 15, in 2000, to the death two years later of boyfriend Jamie Mitchell (Jack Ryder) after a car crash, the drama came thick and fast.
Later, there was her troubled and short-lived marriage to Martin from 2004 to 2006 — which ended when she came out as bisexual after a relationship with Naomi Julien, played by Petra Letang.
Then Sonia was held on suspicion of murdering her former mother-in-law, Pauline (Wendy Richard) — although Pauline’s husband Joe was later revealed as the killer.
And last year Sonia and fiancé Reiss Colwell (Jonny Freeman) were held for the murder of his wife Debbie — but Sonia was later cleared as it emerged Reiss killed her.
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We revealed in January that Natalie was quitting EastEnders — after giving notice the previous summer — and her final scenes aired in April.
She told the Radio Times, “It was a natural decision”, but added: “Sometimes when you’re in something, you think that’s all there is.”
Taking time out from EastEnders to shoot the last series of The Masked Singer, which aired in January and February, opened her eyes to new possibilities.
She said: “Unless you’re free, you’ll never know what’s out there.
“So I thought I’d like to say goodbye to Sonia and see what else is going on.
“I would love for a gritty or funny role to come up but after being Sonia for such a long time, I’m really enjoying being myself.”
Her podcast, Life With Nat, has won an army of listeners — partly down to Natalie having millions of followers on social media — and earned her the reputation of being “the ultimate hun”.
She will also release autobiography Happy Days this autumn.
Natalie can now be seen on Cooking With The Stars, which, given her history of fitness DVDs, is quite a change of lane.
But she views food differently now that she lives a more conventional family life.
As long as you’re not abusing yourself — drinking too much, overeating — whatever shape we are, we’re just very lucky to be here
Natalie Cassidy
Natalie said: “I love food, I love cooking and going for meals.
“Cooking for people and watching them enjoy what you’ve cooked, it brings me joy. It’s the heart of family and friendship.
“Cooking is probably my favourite hobby.
“Being in the kitchen, putting the radio on . . . it’s all about having the time to do it.
“That’s why I love Sundays — they’re all about making a roast dinner, it’s like a religion for me.”
She also hopes to pass on the idea of healthy eating to her children.
Natalie said: “There’s so much pressure with image that I try to put it into perspective and say to them, ‘You’re so lucky to be able to see, to be able to hear.
“As long as you’re not abusing yourself — drinking too much, overeating — whatever shape we are, we’re just very lucky to be here.”
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It is striking how her world has changed after swapping her North London roots for the country life in Hertfordshire.
She reckons her life now is more “Vicar Of Dibley” than EastEnders, and added: “I was a town girl growing up but made the choice to move out to the country.
“For my daughters, it makes a difference.
“We go for nice walks . . . having the country pub and village hall, there’s a sense of everybody looking out for each other, which is sometimes missing in a city.”
After she left EastEnders, Natalie posted a heartfelt message online explaining to the show’s fans why she had taken the difficult decision.
She wrote: “EastEnders is in my bones so I will never forget where I started my career and I will continue to love the show.”
Yet when asked by the Radio Times to name the TV shows she most watches now, the famously gritty soap does not feature — which seems to reflect her new, more tranquil life.
She said: “I like to switch off and watch nice, easy things like
Gardeners’ World, University Challenge or Grand Designs. The older I get, the more I like gentle television.”
- Cooking With The Stars is on every Sunday on ITV1 and ITVX.
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