NEW HEARBREAKING!!!EastEnders’ Natalie Cassidy heartbroken as she opens up on devastating family loss

EastEnders’ Natalie Cassidy was hit with a heartbreaking loss when she was just a teenager, with the Sonia Fowler actress admitting she ‘didn’t really deal with that grief’.

EastEnders legend Natalie Cassidy has opened up about a heartbreaking family loss.

The actress shot to fame playing Sonia Fowler on the BBC soap, making her debut way back in 1993. And last year, Natalie said her goodbyes to Walford after deciding to leave as she “felt the time was right to do so”.

However, when Natalie was just a teenager, her mother, Evelyn, passed away following a battle with bowel cancer in 2002. And during a recent appearance on Love Your Weekend with Alana Titchmarsh, Natalie spoke about her mum’s death.

“I lost my mum at 19. She was 63, she was young,” Natalie said. Alan replied: “Gosh,” as Natalie continued: “But they had me older my mum and dad, they were 44 and 46. So my two brothers they were 15 and 18 when I came along. And family is so important to me.”

Natalie continued: “I suppose I did lose mum, but what I gained was sisters-in-law and nieces which are like my sisters because I was an aunty at 3, so it all worked out in the end.”

Meanwhile, last year, Natalie revealed she had “learned to live” after years of “guilt” following her mum’s death. She said on the Life with Nat podcast: “ When you’re a late teenager you’re not really thinking about your mum unfortunately.

“I lost her quite suddenly and I’ve carried a lot of guilt really about the fact that I wasn’t there. I wasn’t there for her and didn’t spend the time I should have with her.”

She added: “But my brothers always say they were the same at that age and they got to come back because they were older. So I’ve kind of forgiven myself if you like. But the days for me don’t get any easier – you just learn to live with it.”

Sadly, in May 2021, Natalie’s father died aged 84. And speaking on Sunday Brunch in 2025, she shared that writing her autobiography entitled Happy Days helped her deal with “the grief of my parents”.

She said: “I lost my mum at 19 and I didn’t really deal with that grief and then I lost my beautiful dad four years ago but he lived with me and I cared for him and I took him out in the world.

“And it was an amazing privilege but writing it all down, I was like ‘oh my goodness’, I didn’t deal with my mum at all until that happened and it pieced it all together for me.”