Exclusive: Broke EastEnders icon Cheryl Fergison left in tears as she’s forced to use food bank
Ex EastEnders star Cheryl Fergison, who played Heather Trott, said she wept after being taken to a food bank by a Citizens Advice staff member, after she admitted to them that she couldn’t afford to eat
Former EastEnders star Cheryl Fergison today reveals she is so broke she ended up at a food bank.
The actress, who played karaoke-loving Heather Trott in the BBC1 soap from 2007 to 2012, wept after being taken there by a Citizens Advice staff member, after she admitted to them she couldn’t even afford to eat.
It was a far-cry from her time on EastEnders when she “didn’t even look at the price of things”.
Cheryl, 60, says: “I sat there and cried and cried. It was shameful. How could I have been on EastEnders? How could I have been earning that much money and now I am here?
“It was one of the hardest things I’ve had to do. I found it so difficult to be that vulnerable. But I didn’t have any money to do a weekly shop. I was trying to pay too many debts.
Cheryl is dreaming of a return to TV (
BBC)
“Lots of people can relate to it. You’re trying to find a penny. You’re literally looking down your settee to see if you can find a quid.”
Cheryl’s revelation comes after our sister paper the Daily Mirror reported she was selling old EastEnders scripts for £50 a pop, and singing in a Chinese restaurant to make ends meet.
A high-earner during her time on EastEnders, the mum-of-one’s life spiralled downwards after she was diagnosed with womb cancer in 2015, forcing her to shelve her career.
Having a hysterectomy pushed her into an early menopause, which triggered physical and mental issues leading to horrific self-harming – dousing herself in scalding water multiple times a day as she became obsessed with “washing” away cancer cells.
“I was damaging myself so badly,” she reflects. “As soon as I got the all-clear I stopped doing it. If you’re told you are ill, it’s not just about the physical issue – somehow, you need to figure out what’s going on in your head with it all”
But by this February, Cheryl – whose headband wearing Albert Square character was literally killed off by Ben Mitchell – found herself penniless. “It was really a difficult time,” says Cheryl, of Cleveleys, near Blackpool.
Cheryl with co-star Barbara Windsor on EastEnders (
BBC)
So she summoned up the courage to go to her local Citizens Advice branch.
“If they did know who I was they didn’t show it and that was what was wonderful,” she says. “I thought it was embarrassing.”
Of being taken to the food bank, Cheryl says: “That day is one I’ll never forget – and I’ll never forget the people. I felt I’d had this amazing, biggest, warmest hug. That’s what it felt like.
“They were like angels. It was like a group of angels had come along and said, ‘We can cope with this for you Cheryl, we can do this for you’,”
But leaving there with four bags of groceries, dog food and even a bunch of daffodils, she was determined never to go back. Now feeling much more positive about life, she is looking forward to starring as the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella, in Peterborough this Christmas. Her son, Alex, 25, who she shares with first husband Jamshed Saddiqi, is joining the cast as Buttons.
Cheryl, who tied the knot for a second time with Yassim al-Jemoni, 39, in 2011, hopes opening up about hitting rock-bottom financially will help others.
She says: “I hope other people can relate to it. I really want to stress that food banks are a service. They’re there for you to use so please do not feel embarrassed or that it’s a weakness. Whatever the reason, you deserve help. We have a right to be able to live like a human being and do it in a dignified way.”
Cheryl reveals her embarrassment over being broke was exacerbated by perceptions that she should be well off. “If I am in Lidl people are always surprised to see me,” she says. “They go, ‘Why are you here?’ I go, ‘Where do you think I’m going to be?’ I’m living a normal life in Cleveleys.”
While the glamour of life in a major soap is behind her, she says some cast members – past and present – have been her greatest supporters. She says of Steve McFadden, who plays Phil Mitchell: “He has always been a rock. He’s one of my favourite people. He gets misunderstood because of the character he plays, but I adore him.” The late Barbara Windsor, who played Peggy Mitchell, also helped Cheryl when she was struggling with debts and cancer.
“She was amazing,” Cheryl recalls. “Barbara and her husband, Scott, were writing cheques out for me to keep a roof above my head when I couldn’t work and I was poorly.
“She gave me probably one of the best bits of life advice ever. She said to me once, ‘It doesn’t matter what’s going on within your four walls. When you go out there, you remember the public wants to talk to you.’
“She was saying, ‘Be nice to people because they don’t need to know what you’re going through in your own personal life’.”
It is advice Cheryl has heeded – even finding time to chat to fans when she was struggling to cope with cancer. She says: “I’d like them to think that I was a nice person. I would like people to think that I am a survivor and that I’m positive.”
“And If I’m singing in the Chinese restaurant for a penny, at least I’m buying my own food to put on my table, because I don’t want to go back to the food bank if I can help it. If I have something I can sell that people want – I’ll do it.”
Cheryl hopes fans have not seen the last of her on TV. She says: “I would love to work in another soap.
“I would love to go on I’m A Celeb. Bring it on, bring it on.”
