EastEnders Natalie Cassidy admits she was paid £100k to lose four stone – but says DVD was ‘a mistake’
EASTENDERS star Natalie Cassidy has admitted that she was paid £100,000 to lose four stone - calling her DVD "a mistake".
The soap star, who is best known for playing Sonia Fowler in the BBC One show, revealed she regretted agreeing to the deal.
Natalie, 39, opened up about how she was offered the huge sum in order to shed a whopping four stone in a matter of weeks.
The EastEnders star released two weight-loss DVDs, Natalie Cassidy's Then and Now in 2007, and The Perfect Ten years later.
Opening up on the Comfort Eating with Grace Dent podcast, the actress said she put all the weight back on shortly after the deal.
"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," Natalie explained.
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"I was like happy days, let's go for it. I just thought, that's a lot of money; but it wasn't the right thing to do.
"It wasn't - you are losing a lot of weight in a three or four-month period, twelve or sixteen weeks, low calories and 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."
Elsewhere, the star joked that she would "look like a supermodel" if it wasn't for her favourite condiment - mayonnaise.
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“If I didn’t eat mayonnaise I reckon I’d be like a supermodel. Honestly. They’d be like, here’s Kate Moss," she joked.
It comes after Natalie opened up about being fat-shamed during her time on Strictly Come Dancing - admitting she felt "ridiculed".
Talking about an incident on Strictly when she took part back in 2009, she said: “I was about four stonet bigger than I am now.
"Vincenzo (Simone) was quite little. And I remember one week, it was like, ‘Oh we're going to do this dance, but you’re going to pick up Vincent’.
"And I think about it now and I think, ‘Oh, that was out of order. It was a bit out of order to me.’ You couldn’t do that now.”
The experience didn't stop Natalie enjoying herself away from playing Sonia on EastEnders.
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She added on the podcast: "Strictly was the best job outside of EastEnders. I mean, job? That’s a laugh! Getting up, dancing all day, learning how to dance.
"I had lovely Vincenzo next to me. We were like brother and sister. All week we just laughed the whole time. We just had the best time and I loved it. I loved the glitz, the glamour."