\u201cI have always worn my heart on my sleeve, so I hope my story is relatable,\u201d says Cheryl<\/a>, who has bravely revealed how she suffered a stroke in May, which has left her walking with a stick.<\/p>\n \u201cI have had to come to terms with a lot of stuff. I had to process it before I could talk about it. Now the time is right.\u201d<\/p>\n One such bombshell moment came when Cheryl, who played Heather from 2007 to 2012, realised her first husband, Jay Saddiqi – father of her son Alex, 25 – was cheating, when she climbed into the car.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Cheryl Fergison: ‘I came out of the Celebrity Big Brother house to find out I\u2019d been left penniless by my accountant’<\/a>READ MORE: Cheryl Fergison chokes back tears as she reveals son is her carer after horror stroke<\/a> In an extract adapted from her book, she says: \u201cI pulled the seatbelt across my body and then it hit me. A scent. Light, sweet, floral and powdery, but definitely not mine.<\/p>\n \u201cJay, why can I smell women\u2019s perfume on the seatbelt?\u201d I said, sniffing it again like a bloodhound.<\/p>\n \u201cHe snapped his head round, a flicker of annoyance flashing in his eyes. \u2018You\u2019re imagining things, Cheryl.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018I\u2019m not. It\u2019s strong. I can smell it right here,\u2019\u201d I held the strap up to my nose again.<\/p>\n \u201cJay let out an exaggerated sigh, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. \u2018It\u2019s probably one of the lads from work. Their aftershave or something. You\u2019re being paranoid.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018Oh, come off it. Since when do the boys at your security firm smell like a duty-free perfume counter?\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cHe turned away, staring out of the windscreen. \u201cAre we going shopping or what?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTo this day, every time I get into a car and pull on a seatbelt, I sniff it.<\/p>\n \u201cI began to suspect that my husband was cheating on me, but I tried to convince myself I was wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n Then, a phone bill arrived, listing calls to a number Cheryl didn\u2019t recognise. When she called it, a woman answered. But when she rang back, the voice on the line was Jay\u2019s.<\/p>\n After some \u2018solid detective work\u2019 she discovered where he and the woman were meeting and went there to confront them. .<\/p>\n She describes what she saw as a \u201cdingy, makeshift love nest.\u201d<\/p>\n She writes: \u201cAnd there, perched on the dirty bed she shared with my husband, was a skinny blonde woman, sipping a bright blue WKD like it was the most natural thing in the world<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cJay stood next to her, caught in the headlights, but still silent, still unwilling to give me anything. Not an apology, not an explanation, not even an ounce of shame.<\/p>\n \u201cThat night, I packed up the car, strapped Alex into his seat and drove to London. Leaving my marriage and Jay behind.\u201d<\/p>\n Cheryl divorced Jay, an Afghan refugee, in 2008, after eight years of marriage.<\/p>\n![\"Cheryl](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0_Cheryl-Fergison.jpg\")
Climbing into her car to greet first husband Jay Saddiqi changed everything for Cheryl(Image: Andy Stenning\/Daily Mirror)<\/p>\n![\"Cheryl](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0_TM240423Cheryl3.jpg\")
Cheryl began calling unknown numbers on a phone bill and made her shocking discovery(Image: Tim Merry\/Mirror Express)<\/p>\n![\"Cheryl's](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/11_9781917439251.jpg\")
Cheryl’s upcoming book shares secrets from her life (Image: Mirror Feature supplied)<\/p>\n