![\"Natalie](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/0_362648EastEnders-Portraits-2021.jpg\")
Natalie Cassidy considered surprising new job away from acting after EastEnders(Image: BBC \/ Kieron McCarron)<\/p>\nNatalie Cassidy was loved in Albert Square as Sonia Fowler for 32 years, but the actress has now revealed she had other ambitions away from the hit BBC soap opera<\/p>\n
17:00, 26 Dec 2025Updated 19:23, 26 Dec 2025<\/p>\n
Natalie Cassidy considered surprising new job away from acting after EastEnders(Image: BBC \/ Kieron McCarron)<\/p>\n
Natalie Cassidy has revealed that after she left EastEnders<\/a>, she considered applying for a job as a check-out girl at Marks and Spencer. She loved the idea of being on the till and chatting to customers as it would be a world<\/a> away from her life as an actress.<\/p>\n The former soap star<\/a> said: \u201cI actually have thought about doing a Sunday afternoon on the till at M&S<\/a>. It would be brilliant. I\u2019d have to be on till number 13 because that is my lucky number. I would love it but I don\u2019t think you can just do one day though. I love M&S. If I wasn\u2019t doing this acting I\u2019d be working in Marks probably.”<\/p>\n The star, 42, quit the BBC<\/a> soap back in April after playing Albert Square favourite Sonia Fowler for 32 years. Not surprisingly, offers have flooded in for the TV favourite who lives with her partner Marc Humphreys and their two daughters Eliza, 15, and Joanie, nine.<\/p>\n Her boyfriend, she says, never gets caught up in her showbiz world but whenever work opportunities come her way, she insists that he and her girls are always the priority in whatever she does. She revealed: \u201cMarc doesn\u2019t get that involved with my stuff to be honest. He will go \u2018That\u2019s your stuff. I am really proud that you get on with that\u2019. We work like Yin and Yang. If he was 100 miles an hour like me it just would not work so he is Mr Laid Back.<\/p>\n \u201cBut family comes first. So me and Marc were asked to do Celebrity Race Across The World but I cannot leave the children. I mean you\u2019re away for a month or six weeks. It is a long time. I also had something through for Channel 5. It was for a detective series but it was seven weeks in Ireland. I am not going to Ireland for seven weeks, am I? Family comes first with me.\u201d<\/p>\n Among the new projects Natalie has done since EastEnders<\/a> is a consumer series for Channel 4<\/a> called What\u2019s The Big Deal? which aired in the summer. And she will be on our screens in Spring 2026 fronting a new BBC documentary series where she learns to become a carer.<\/p>\n She said: “It is a new BBC daytime series where I explore health and social care, the charities, the volunteers, dementia homes and palliative care. It is a really special show. And I have actually done a Level 3 NVQ in health and social care so I have been doing assignments for that and it has been really lovely.”<\/p>\n In addition to her TV filming commitments and running her successful podcast series Life With Nat, she has spent a good part of the past year promoting her new book called Happy Days. It is an unusual kind of autobiography where she recalls tales from lives based on the days of the week.<\/p>\n The star explained: \u201cOn Instagram<\/a> I always say \u2018Happy Monday\u2019 or \u2018Happy Tuesday\u2019 and I thought for my book, rather than write \u2018I was born in 1983 and then I did this and then I did that\u2026\u2019 I decided to research about the days of the week and where they come from and we can get into special days like Mother\u2019s Day and Valentine\u2019s Day and Christmas<\/a> Day which I really love.<\/p>\n “So I started with Monday. And that came quite easily because I lost my mum on a Monday\u2026 20th of May, I lost my mum, I will never forget that morning. But I also had my first proper date with Mark on a Monday. So I thought that is lovely because there is something sad but also something joyous on that day so I can talk about Monday and link it up in different ways. It was good to find stories for every day of the week looking at different times in my life and then put them altogether.\u201d<\/p>\n Natalie admits the book is a mix of joy and grief as that is what she \u2013 and millions of others \u2013 experience in their lives. She explained: \u201cMy life has not always been easy. I have been through heartache. It is hard. Sometimes I meet people of my own age and I am 42 now and they\u2019ll say \u2018I have got this going on and my mum\u2019s coming to help me or my dad\u2019s doing this..\u2019 And I think \u2018God you are so lucky\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cI lost my mum when I was 19 and I lost my dad four years ago. I don\u2019t think it matters when you lose your parents, it’s being an orphan that is really really hard. So in the book I did want to talk about grief but in a nice way. It is important to talk about grief and the people we have lost. With mum and dad gone it is really difficult but I am very lucky because what God or whoever has given me is this family and I have these nieces who are like my sisters and big brothers who are like my dad. Sometimes you make up for it in other ways. And that has made me who I am today.\u201d<\/p>\n However some topics from her life, including her tumultuous relationship with former boyfriend Adam Cottrell, have remained off limits. She explained: \u201cI have had hard times in my life but I didn\u2019t want to do a massive thing about how awful those years were. It is my private life and some things I want to keep private out of respect for my children and it is down to them if they want to talk about it in the future. But I wanted to write a book which was appropriate for my daughters to read. That was very important to me. I just wanted them to be able to read it and feel proud of the book.\u201d<\/p>\n After 32 years on the BBC soap, it\u2019s no secret that Natalie gets recognised almost every day as \u2018Sonia from EastEnders\u2019. But she is very happy with that and would not change it for the world.<\/p>\n She told fans at a book signing in Somerset: \u201cI think people fell in love with the character from the beginning. It started with the shy looking girl who played the trumpet really badly and it just stuck from then on. It\u2019s become a memory for people. It\u2019s become iconic and that is lovely.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the time I\u2019d get white van man and workmen shouting \u2018Oi Sonia? Where\u2019s the trumpet?\u2019 But it was all in jest and very nice. And I still get it now and it doesn\u2019t matter if you leave EastEnders, it is always with you and I love that. I feel very honoured just to be known for those things. I mean there are people in our industry who get annoyed about being recognised but I always think \u2018How can you be annoyed?\u2019 It is an absolute honour to be known for something.\u201d<\/p>\n * Natalie Cassidy: Happy Days is out now published by HarperCollins.<\/strong><\/p>\n Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on<\/strong> TikTok<\/strong> <\/a>,<\/strong> Snapchat<\/strong> <\/a>,<\/strong> Instagram<\/strong> <\/a>,<\/strong> Twitter<\/strong> <\/a>,<\/strong> Facebook<\/strong> <\/a>,<\/strong> YouTube<\/strong> <\/a>and<\/strong> Threads<\/strong> <\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"Natalie](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/3_Natalie-Cassidy-Eastenders.jpg\")
Natalie Cassidy in Eastenders as a youngster(Image: BBC)<\/p>\n