Former EastEnders star Cheryl Fergison has opened up about her reasons for selling some of her old memorabilia from the soap online.
Fergison, who is known for her role as Heather Trott on EastEnders, has recently been advertising scripts and other items, including photos, from her time on the soap via social media.
Speaking to OK! about her reasons for selling the merchandise, the actor said that the profits she makes will help her to pay her household bills while she doesn’t currently have any acting
work.
“Maybe £50 to some people is not a lot of money, but when it can help to pay an ever-increasing bill or help put a roof over your head and food on the table, just like any other person earning a living, I will continue to buy and sell – and pay tax on it,” she said.
“I will give the fans what they are asking for, and keep afloat in times when I am not fortunate enough to be filming and working in my profession.”
The star, who played Heather regularly from 2007 to 2012, also refuted rumours that she may get into trouble with the BBC over selling the scripts, explaining that “I was told some years ago that after a period of time, this was okay to do”.
“I have donated scripts to various charities over the years in much the same way, by giving them to auctions to raise money for their charities,” she said, adding: “I wanted to give true fans a chance to have something of my era at EastEnders.”
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“I think that people need to get their heads around the fact we have to earn a living, we are not always fortunate to be filming all the time and working in our chosen and trained profession,” she said. “I do not see that anything is wrong with what I am doing when I have been told this is something I can do.”
Fergison, who has also appeared in Doctor Who and Casualty, added that she is always striving “to continue to get the work and be put forward for great new projects”, saying that “being nearly 60 can mean you can get overlooked for things”.
Earlier this year, the actor spoke out against trolling that she has received over her relationship with her husband, Yassine Al-Jermoni, due to their 21-year age gap.
“We went through the mill. It was horrendous. Obviously there’s always speculation when somebody in the public eye meets somebody else, whoever it is, but we have had things thrown at us that should never have been thrown at us; things that would have broken others,” she said.
She added: “People don’t bat an eyelid if an older man meets a younger woman but it’s not the same the other way round.”
