EastEnders’ Natalie Cassidy has revealed her daughter Joanie, seven, thinks her character on the iconic soap is ‘so boring’ and ‘fast-forwards’ the parts she stars in.
The actress, 41 – who has played Sonia Fowler since 1993 – told The Mirror: ‘She’ll go, “Mummy… Sonia’s so boring. I just don’t like watching you on here, honestly I just don’t like it.”‘
She added: ‘I say, “I’ve been there a long time darling, there’s a lot of people who do like me.”‘
Her daughter who is her harshest critic, however, revealed in response: ‘Well, I’m not one of them.’
Natalie also revealed her daughter fast-forwards her scenes in the soap, however, she’s unsure if that’s just because it’s her take on Sonia or seeing her mum on screen.
EastEnders ‘ Natalie Cassidy has revealed her daughter Joanie, seven, thinks her character on the iconic soap is ‘so boring’ and ‘fast-forwards’ the parts she stars in
The actress (right) has played Sonia Fowler since 1993 (pictured with Danielle Harold as Lola)
Natalie also revealed that she’s sure Sonia ‘will end’ one day, however, claimed she doesn’t want her to ‘die a terrible death.’
Natalie has starred in the soap since she was 10, and during her time on the show she fell pregnant at 15, lost her love Jamie Mitchell, endured a rocky marriage to Martin Fowler, and had a shocking cancer scare.
Speaking to the Spinning Plates podcast with singer Sophie Ellis-Bexter, the mum-of-two previously told how she formed a close bond with late co-star June Brown (Dot Cotton).
She said: ‘When I was 20, June would have been mid-70s. She would stay at my house, we’d learn our lines and drink red wine, we’d go on holiday.
‘She’d had a full career bringing up five children. She showed how you can do it all.’
It comes after Natalie revealed her regret over accepting a huge £100k fee to lose four stone for a fitness DVD earlier this month.
The actress took the massive fee to work on the project back in 2007 – but regained the weight in a mere eight weeks.
The deal was for the Then & Now Workout DVD which saw her posing in skimpy pink gym wear to show off the transformation results.
Natalie has starred in the soap since she was 10, and during her time she has fallen pregnant at 15, lost her love Jamie Mitchell, endured a rocky marriage to Martin Fowler, and had a shocking cancer scare (pictured with former co-stars Danny Dyer and Charlie Brooks)
And during an appearance on This Morning Natalie told hosts Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley that she ‘wouldn’t do that now’ as they spoke about the DVD.
She said: ‘It’s my own fault. They offered me a load of money to lose weight and I did it at the time.’
‘Actually looking back it is something that I wouldn’t do.’
Ben then asked Natalie whether she had to keep the weight off because of her contract and she confirmed that was the case.
‘Yeah of course, but I didn’t keep it off. I put another four stone on.’
In 2022, Natalie told how she welcomed the opportunity at the time but later realised it wasn’t the best move.
She said on the Comfort Eating podcast: ‘I was like happy days, I’ll have a go.
‘I just thought, that’s a lot of money, that’s good. But it wasn’t the right thing to do. It wasn’t – you are losing a lot of weight in a three or four-month period, 12 or 16 weeks I can’t quite remember, really low calories and just training every day with a trainer.’
The star released two weight-loss DVDs, Then and Now and The Perfect Ten in 2013.
The the mum-of-two previously told how she formed a close bond with late co-star June Brown (Dot Cotton)
It comes after Natalie opened up about being fat-shamed during her time on Strictly Come Dancing – admitting she felt ‘ridiculed’.
The TV icon took part in the BBC show in 2009 with partner Vincent Simone and has told how at the time she was four stone heavier than she is now.
Natalie claims that during one rehearsal she was asked to take on the man’s dance move and pick Vincent up to perform a lift, which she has branded ‘out of order’.
She told Ry-Union podcast: ‘I was about four stone bigger than I am now.
‘Vincenzo (Simone) was quite little. And I remember one week, it was like, ‘Oh we’re going to do this dance, but you’re going to pick up Vincent’.
‘And I think about it now and I think, ‘Oh, that was out of order. It was a bit out of order to me. You couldn’t do that now.’
It comes after Natalie opened up about being fat-shamed during her time on Strictly Come Dancing in 2009 – admitting she felt ‘ridiculed’