EXCLUSIVE: Actress Natalie Cassidy opens the door of her stunning home as she pays tribute to her EastEnders co-stars, shares family memories and celebrates feeling fabulous at 40
EastEnders' Natalie Cassidy welcomes OK! inside her home to celebrate 30 years on BBC soap: 'I grew up on TV - Sonia's an icon'
It’s been an incredible 30 years since Natalie Cassidy first arrived in Albert Square as Sonia Jackson. A lot has changed since that cheeky 10-year-old won the nation’s hearts, and now, as one of Britain’s most recognisable soap actors, Natalie enjoys idyllic family life far removed from Albert Square in her beautiful Hertfordshire home.
“I decided to bite the bullet and find somewhere with an annexe, so that Dad was still with us, but could also be independent and have his own space. Understandably, it’s important for Natalie to keep her dad’s memory alive in the house. “We still call the annexe ‘Grandad’s’,” she says. “We say, ‘Shall we go into Grandad’s to watch telly?’ And we’ve also got a little glass box with feathers in. If the girls see a feather, they’ll put it in the box. It’s just weird him not being here. I miss him terribly.”
But as every parent knows, it’s not all easy. On the challenges of motherhood, she says, “They’re strong girls. They’ll argue with me until they’re blue in the face about things. You have to be patient. “As a mum, I just want her to do what I didn’t do, and that’s just to get some more stuff under her belt,” she says. “I think it’s important to be able to do something else as well.”if anything was to come in that’s interesting and wouldn’t take up too much time, I’m happy for her“I’m young enough to have another baby. My mum was 44 when she had me. But Eliza was three-and-a-half when Marc and I met, so we’ve never been on our own as a couple. We’ve always had children,” she says.
“You need to make time for romance. If it slips and we think we haven’t done anything nice for a month, we do bring it up. He’s better than me actually. He’ll bring it up more.” She smiles, “We both fancy the pants off each other still, which is a good thing.”And after turning 40 earlier this year, Natalie is enjoying every moment of her new decade. “I’ve always been brave enough to say how I feel and have an opinion.
“It’s just been amazing,” she says. “I’ve seen so many years and genres, and you see people come and go. I think my proudest moment is that I was there in the times of Barbara Windsor , Wendy Richard , June Brown and Pam St Clement . All of those women taught me the ropes. And I feel like I hold that baton.”
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