Natalie Cassidy says EastEnders saved her from a ‘wild’ life with the wrong crowd – admitting she could have gone off the rails without it
Natalie Cassidy has revealed EastEnders saved her from a life going off the rails and following the wrong, ‘stupid’ crowd. The actress, who landed the iconic role of Sonia Fowler aged just 10-years-old, admits her future could have taken a dark turn without the BBC soap.
Asked where she would be without the iconic role, the 42-year-old replied: “Yeah… It’s not good, not really.
“I would have been down the canal, the Islington Green canal, doing God knows what. I think I am a bit of a wild spirit and I think if I hadn’t of gone down the path I had, who knows what might have happened.”
Natalie admitted she was surrounded by the wrong crowd growing up, telling James O’Brien: “There were a lot of people around me who were a little bit stupid, would I have just followed on with them?
“Would I have had my head turned? Ended up… You know, I don’t know what I would have ended up doing.”
The star quit EastEnders in 2025 after 31 years and also confessed she blew through her early earnings although she wasn’t paid a lot.
“At that sort of age you’re getting £30, £40 an episode – A lot more than most ten-year-olds however it wasn’t bundles, and bundles of money”, she said.
“It all went away, mum and dad were very loving, kind people, but they weren’t fantastic with money, they liked to spend, they were spenders and so am I, unfortunately.”
Now Natalie is eying up new ventures including trying her hand up at comedy one day, she shared: “I’m absolutely petrified but I am obsessed with stand-up. I love watching it, watching it on the telly,
but to try it out I just think, ‘that is brave ain’t it?’ Standing and making someone laugh on your own.
Elaborating on why she quit, she explained: “One of the reasons I left last year is you go, ‘Oh do I want to just remain here and this is gonna be it?’ she said.
“As much as I am grateful for it, always, you go ‘Is this all I’m gonna do?’ Let’s be brave and do something else.”
