The Sonia Jackson actress says she feels and looks different after leaving the BBC soap after three decades
Move over Sonia Jackson and take your trumpet with you… after 32 years it is finally time for Natalie Cassidy to take centre stage.
The 42-year-old was only 10 when she joined EastEnders, and she inhabited the character with such conviction that the lines of fact and fiction blurred. But no more… Natalie says since leaving the BBC juggernaut this year, the changes have been so huge that not only does she feel different, she looks different too.
“It was amazing when I got to reinvent myself after leaving EastEnders,” she says, beaming. “Sonia isn’t the most glamorous of characters, bless her, but I wanted to stay true to her character, so I never got extensions put in, or dyed my hair.
“She was just a worker who didn’t have a lot of money and worked for the NHS. But coming away, and breaking free, I just thought, ‘I want to be glam. I want to wear coloured nails. And just feel like me’.
“I do feel like my face has changed a little since leaving EastEnders, because I was quite sad when I was playing Sonia, or angry all the time. So I feel like my frown lines have sort of faded away, which is quite nice!”
Since Natalie joined in 1993, Sonia fell pregnant at 15, lost Jamie Mitchell, faced a rocky marriage to Martin Fowler and had a cancer scare. She also took the lead in the live episode in February for the soap’s 40th anniversary, giving birth in the Queen Vic.
News of trumpet-playing Sonia’s departure shocked viewers, who had grown up watching Natalie’s powerful performances on their TV screens. Natalie says her 40th birthday was a turning point.
“It’s a bit of a cliche, but it is a milestone. You know who you are, who your friends are, and where you are in life. You don’t want any rubbish. Having been in this business for such a long time, I just needed to be free and be open to everything else.”
Mum-of-two Natalie admits she felt chained to the show, while conceding: “And that’s not a bad thing, because it’s regular money. But you haven’t got any time to plan anything else, so it does take over your whole life,” she says. “For me, I just knew I needed to be brave, and I needed to break free from that to sit and go, ‘What else is going to come?’”
Natalie is busy recording her podcast, Life With Nat, appearing in BBC comedy Boarders and fronting C4 consumer show What’s The Big Deal. The star, engaged to cameraman Marc Humphries, also plans to do lots of mum things with Eliza, 15, and Joanie, nine.
“It’s been freeing leaving EastEnders,” admits Natalie. “I feel liberated and just happy. Albert Square will always hold a place in my heart… and the door is always open for me to return, never say never.”
Read Natalie’s full interview in the November issue of Prima here.
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