Natalie Cassidy's face 'changed' after leaving EastEnders
Natalie Cassidy thinks leaving EastEnders has "changed" her appearance because she doesn't have to appear unhappy all the time.
Natalie Cassidy thinks leaving EastEnders has "changed" her appearance.
The 42-year-old actress departed her role as Sonia Fowler earlier this year and she thinks she looks better as a result because she isn't spending so much of her time playing someone "sad and depressed" or angry.
She told Prima magazine: “It’s been freeing leaving EastEnders. I feel liberated and just happy...
“I do feel like my face has changed a little since leaving EastEnders, because I was quite sad and depressed when I was playing Sonia, or angry all the time. So I feel like my frown lines have sort of faded away, which is quite nice.”
And Natalie has enjoyed breaking away from her character's frumpy image.
She said: “Sonia isn’t the most glamorous of characters, bless her, but I wanted to stay true to her character, so I never got extensions put in, or dyed my hair.
“She was just a worker who didn’t have a lot of money and worked for the NHS. But coming away, and breaking free, I just thought, ‘I want to be glam. I want to wear coloured nails. And just feel like me’.
The actress made her first appearance in EastEnders in 1993 before leaving in 2007, returning between 2010 and 2011 and then going back to Walford in 2014, and she admitted she won't rule out further guest appearances in the future.
However, a permanent return seems unlikely because Natalie is enjoying having more free time.
She said: "Albert Square will always hold a place in my heart, and I love it there. There could be a storyline where I come back for a week – those things are great.
"But it took up a lot of time. I used to be learning lines in the evening, and that’s gone now. And then I’d be up at six in the morning.
"You’re not a scaffolder or a heart surgeon, but it did take a long time, whereas now, my evenings are free, unless I’m recording a podcast at home.”
