18 November 2023 , 13:42
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EastEnders star Natalie Cassidy's secret feud with a former Page 3 model has been revealed.
The actress, who plays Sonia Fowler in the BBC soap, got into a spat back with Nicola McLean back in the Noughties after Natalie made a comment about her weight in a magazine column. Nicola has since revealed that at the time she was in the grip of an eating disorder.
Knowing they didn’t get on, the pair were then put into the Celebrity Big Brother house together in 2012 where they squashed their ‘beef’ and ended up becoming pals. Reflecting on their feud a decade later, Nicola has finally revealed what it was all about.
She said: “Back then I had a really bad eating disorder. I weighted tiny, tiny. Then she [Natalie] came out and said that I was setting a really bad example to my children and younger kids, and teenagers. And I was really angered because she had done one of those stupid weight loss videos, which are really bad examples because you are starving yourself to lose weight.”
EastEnders star Natalie fell out with former page 3 girl Nicola McLean in the Noughties (Instagram)
Nicola said Natalie criticised her weight when she was in the grip of an eating disorder (Brett D. Cove/SplashNews.com)Nicola told the Daily Star: “Everyone that’s ever been honest about their videos, Vicky Pattison, Charlotte Crosby. You’re not doing that DVD and losing weight. You’re actually on 500 calories a day and you’re doing it for money. Whereas I was ill. I have a mental illness. I am still in recovery. So I was like, hold on a minute. You can’t call out my anorexia for being irresponsible and then do those DVDs.”
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The 42-year-old mum-of-two has since admitted that Natalie was probably made to write those things by the magazine she had a column with at the time and doesn’t hold a grudge. “She’s literally one of the funniest people I’ve ever met. She didn’t get a good edit on Big Brother. She should have won it. Honestly her comic timing is unbelievable. She was one of my favourites in there. I was devastated when she got booted out too.”
Now 40, Natalie is still a regular in EastEnders, having played Sonia on and off since she was just 10 years old. She is also mum to two daughters, Eliza, 12, and seven-year-old Joanie and engaged to her cameraman boyfriend Marc Humphreys, who she has been with since 2014.
Natalie and Nicola made up on Celebrity Big Brother (Channel 4)Speaking on last week, Natalie shared an and said of their eight-year engagement: "We just need to get round to it, we just need to do it. I've thought about a big wedding and loads of people but I think when we do it, it will be down the road. In the pub, with all our friends and family, just get it done."
As well as feuding with Nicola over the years, she also had an unlikely spat with after the star gave birth to daughter Betsy in May 2010. Denise revealed she was employing a full-time nanny to look after her daughter so she could return to the West End stage, which Natalie didn't agree with.
"Denise van Outen went back to work after two weeks because she said she needed to feel normal again. I just think, 'What have you had a child for? Having a child should be your job'," Natalie said at the time.
Denise later called her a ‘hypocrite’ for promoting her new reality TV show, Natalie Cassidy: Becoming Mum, shortly after having first daughter Eliza and hit back: "Natalie Cassidy criticised me for going back to work after having Betsy. Natalie's on Lorraine's show now promoting her reality /new mum show. Isn't that work?... She said she did the show for money, so yes, that is work. Pot calling!"