EastEnders legend Natalie Cassidy has opened up about life after the soap after filming her final scenes.
It was announced back in January that Natalie would be leaving her iconic role as Sonia Fowler, which led some fans to speculate that the character might die in the 40th anniversary’s dramatic pub explosion.
While Sonia thankfully survived and gave birth to her baby girl Julia, her exit is still imminent and Natalie recently revealed that she has now filmed her final scenes.
Opening up about life since her exit on the latest episode of her podcast Off the Telly, Natalie told her co-host Joanna Page that she’s glad to have her “evenings back” and be free of the some of the “burdens” that come with working on a soap.
“It is nice to have a little bit of length and feel a bit different from Sonia,” she said, referring to her new haircut.
“The burden of learning lines every night has gone, which is a really lovely thing. I feel like I’ve finally got the evenings back.”
While Natalie said that it’s still “early days and you always miss the people and miss your friends”, she is “not missing the work”.
Previously speaking about the filming of her final scenes, the soap star explained: “It was a brilliant day at work. I haven’t shed a tear, which is strange. I don’t know when that’s coming.
“But I’ve had the most beautiful presents and cards from everybody. We had a soiree last night, which was absolutely lovely. I did my scenes that were really lovely. And it’s just brilliant. I feel really excited now for the next chapter.”
𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 “𝑭𝒂𝒏𝒑𝒂𝒈𝒆 & 𝑾𝒆𝒃𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒆: 𝒇𝙞𝒍𝙢𝒔𝙥𝒐𝙞𝒍𝙚𝒓𝙨.𝙞𝒏𝙛𝒐” 𝐭𝐨 𝐮𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧-𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐡 𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐞𝐬.
