EastEnders’ Natalie Cassidy shares regret over weight loss DVD

EastEnders star Natalie Cassidy has expressed regret over her Then and Now workout DVD, chronicling her weight loss.

The Sonia Fowler actress explained she was asked to take part in the DVD, released in 2007, in exchange for £100k.

“I was very overweight, and they approached me and said, ‘Listen, we’re going to give you £100,000, we’re going to get you really fit and you’re going to lose four stone,'” Cassidy said speaking on the Comfort Eating with Grace Dent podcast.

“I was like, ‘Happy days, I’d love a go’. I just thought, ‘That’s a lot of money,’ but it wasn’t the right thing to do,” she continued.

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Cassidy opened up on the making of the DVD, sharing she lost weight in a short period of time before gaining it back.

“It wasn’t – you are losing a lot of weight in a three- or four-month period, twelve or sixteen weeks, really low calories and just training every day.

“I got there, and as soon as that DVD came out, I ate for England. I put all the weight back on in eight weeks.”

Kieron McCarron/Jack BarnesBBC

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Cassidy has been playing Sonia since 1993. In recent episodes, the actress has addressed her character’s sexuality after the nurse has had romances with men and women throughout the soap.

“People come up to me and say, ‘Oh, you’re not a lesbian anymore.’ But the truth is that Sonia can fall for anyone, man or woman,” Cassidy shared in June.

EastEnders airs on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7.30pm on BBC One, with some episodes airing on BBC Two during summer sporting events. The show also streams on BBC iPlayer.

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