EastEnders' Cheryl Fergison suffers devastating stroke after losing all life savings
Cheryl Fergison, known for her role as Heather Trott in EastEnders, opens up about a recent health battle which left her completely shaken and her 'world rocked'.
Soap star favourite Cheryl Fergison, known for her role in EastEnders as Heather Trott, has opened up about the devastating impact of a stroke that left her struggling to use her right hand, describing it as one of the lowest points of her life.
"I would say it was probably one of the lowest times in my life," says the 59-year-old actress of the devastating illness which struck in May. "One of the hardest things is to process what it does to you. One minute you're walking, talking, going to the shops; the next your world is rocked. It's shocking."
Speaking exclusively to the Mirror ahead of the release of her explosive new memoir, Behind The Scenes, the mum of one recalls being at home watching TV when she first realised something was wrong.
"I started to feel funny, with a really bad headache at the back of my head. I went to bed but couldn't settle. When I got up in the night to go to the bathroom, my balance completely went and I had to stop myself from falling over. My whole right side felt numb, heavy and tingly," Cheryl revealed.
Fearing the worst, she called her son Alex. "He worked with elderly people and recognised the symptoms. He phoned an ambulance straight away."
Cheryl, who underwent surgery for womb cancer in 2015, was rushed to a Blackpool hospital, where doctors confirmed she had suffered a stroke.
The stroke left her unable to walk, initially requiring the assistance of three people just to reach the toilet and she continues to rely on a walking stick.
"I have had to retrain my brain. I couldn’t even pick up a penny at first. You lose the ability to coordinate your hands, to walk properly, your balance is gone. It’s frustrating and makes you angry. But I’ve started to recover; I am coming on in leaps and bounds now," says Cheryl, who lives in Cleveleys, Lancashire.
Still undergoing physiotherapy, she admits being ill has given her time to reflect, particularly as she approaches her 60th birthday.
"Material things don’t matter; they can be lost or broken, but memories are everything. Friends, family and laughter - that’s all that matters. Going into this new decade is a chance for a new me. I'm not ready to be put out to graze yet."
Her no holds barred memoir is infused with her trademark fighting spirit - a spirit put to the test when she was left penniless, devastated and drowning in debt after being scammed by her own accountant.
The actress - who only last year admitted she was forced to rely on food banks - says she was "gobsmacked" to discover she owed hundreds of thousands of pounds in taxes after her accountant pocketed her money for five years. She received the devastating news in 2012, at a time that should have been one of her happiest in her life.
"I’d just walked out of the Celebrity Big Brother house,” Cheryl recalls. "I was on such a high; I’d been paid £175,000. I felt excited, positive - like the future was finally opening up," explains the star, who had tied the knot just months earlier with her Moroccan husband, Yassine El Jamouni, who is 20 years her junior.
"My phone just kept pinging. Some messages were congratulations but others were from people I knew in the entertainment industry. One read, ‘We are in big trouble. Ring me. It’s about our accountant.’ That was the moment my entire world collapsed."
The person Cheryl trusted with her finances had seemed like a genuine guy, she explained: "I thought he was looking after me. But he was lining his own pockets."
"For five years I paid him faithfully, and he didn’t send any money to the tax office. My savings, my security, everything was gone."
Police launched an investigation, and Cheryl was later informed that the fraudster had been picked up by Interpol for another scam- but she never recovered a single penny.
“Even though I was the victim, I still had to repay it. It's taken me so many years to recover. I had to sell my house,” she admits.
Cheryl, whose acting career has included roles with the Royal Shakespeare Company as well as appearances in Little Britain and Doctor Who, admits that facing private setbacks in the private eye has often been hard.
“You’re expected to keep up appearances. Barbara Windsor told me: ‘keep putting a brave face on when you go out there, darling; give them a show, put on a smile. But at the same time the pressure is on. When you’re famous, people assume you’re loaded. I was paying restaurant bills I couldn’t afford just so no one knew I was struggling. But behind closed doors, I was totally skint."
The actress has decided to tell her full story after being ridiculed online for selling EastEnders scripts and singing in her local Chinese restaurant to earn money.
"Just because I am off the telly, doesn’t mean that I haven’t gone through some very hard times. I don’t let it get me down though," she said.
Less than two years after being scammed, Cheryl was diagnosed with womb cancer, beginning a long and difficult struggle with both her physical and mental health, which included publicised issues with self-harm.
She also candidly recalls a period of homelessness in 2002, when she was living with her toddler son, years before fame arrived. At the time, she was trapped in a toxic marriage to her first husband, Afghan refugee Jay Saddiqi, whom she had married in May 2000. Their relationship was volatile, and they eventually split.
Broke and with a young baby, Cheryl spent eight months in a women’s shelter with her son, Alex. Life there was grim, but Cheryl was not going to let it destroy her.
She said: "In 2018, many years later. I found myself sitting on a bench in Dartford on the exact same spot I used to sit in when I was homeless but this time because I was performing in a hit musical at the theatre just a few feet away."
“I thought, ‘Wow, I have come so far.’ Life has a funny way of going full circle.”
Her book confronts deeply painful moments, including being a victim of sexual assault as a child and her battle with binge eating as an adult, which she kept hidden.
“I would eat in secret, when I was happy, as a treat, and when I was sad. It was my coping mechanism,” she admits.
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But there are also many funny moments from Cheryl's star-studded life included in the book, including her Albert Square character's obsession with George Michael which led to a real life friendship.
“You know that episode, where Heather and Shirely [Linda Henry] go to George Michael’s house? That was based on real life," she said.
“Once when walking with Linda and Cliff Parisi in Highgate, they rang the bell and ran away, leaving me to chat to his housekeeper. It was so embarrassing but by the time I had got to the EastEnders set George Michael left me a voicemail. He started sending me gifts and we became mates. He was such a kind man.”
The book also gives Cheryl the chance to set the record straight about her marriage to her much younger Moroccan husband. "People will gossip. We’ve been through a lot, we come from different worlds. But I know the truth."
EastEnders updates
Despite the ups and downs, Cheryl insists she has been “very blessed." She shares: "I’ve met so many amazing people and had some incredible highs - my life has been more of a soap opera than EastEnders."
Now, as she approaches her milestone birthday, she's optimistic about the future, saying: "If there's one thing I’ve learned, it’s that money and fame don’t equal success. I’m looking forward to the next chapter. Bring it on!"