Natalie Cassidy suffered horrific injury rehearsing scene for EastEnders' 40th anniversary live episode
Natalie Cassidy revealed she was hopsitalised after she injured herself whilst rehearsing a scene for EastEnders' 40th anniversary live episode.
Natalie Cassidy's sternum "popped out" whilst rehearsing baby Julia's birth scene during EastEnders' 40th anniversary live episode.
The 42-year-old actress sustained the horrific fracture to her breastbone after she "really went for" pushing out her second daughter - whom she had with her dead ex-psycho boyfriend Reiss Colwell (Jonny Freeman) - in the collapsing Queen Victoria pub, which aired during the February 20 special.
Appearing on the latest episode of 42-year-old comedienne Katherine Ryan's What's My Age Again? podcast, Natalie recalled: "I was straining when I was acting out giving birth, and I did it live for EastEnders Live. It was an episode. I had to give birth live.
"So there was a lot of nerves, and a couple of days before that, I went for it, really went for it, and my sternum popped out. Not out of the skin, but out."
Natalie then went to hospital, where she discovered she had a fracture that was commonly seen in car accidents.
She added: "And I carried on with the rehearsal, carried it all on, and I went to the hospital, and I fractured my sternum.
"And the guy said to me, 'Have you checked your bones? Because that is mad, like that's a car accident and you've done it to yourself.'"
Katherine said: "You acted yourself a broken bone!"
Natalie replied: "I did, yeah.
"I take all the osteoporosis stuff because I'm worried about my bone density a little bit."
The actress made her last appearance as Sonia Fowler during the April 17 episode after playing National Health Service (NHS) nurse Sonia, on and off, for 32 years.
Natalie described her departure as "freeing" because the job took over her "whole life" - but she may return to make appearances now and then in the future.
She explained in the November issue of Prima magazine: "It’s been freeing leaving EastEnders. I feel liberated and just happy.
"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.”
