Natalie Cassidy: I grew up on EastEnders before I knew what fame was

From a childhood in Islington to more than three decades on one of Britain’s biggest television shows, Natalie Cassidy’s life has unfolded in public for almost as long as she can remember.

In this episode of Full Disclosure, James O’Brien sits down with the actor to trace a journey that began in a close-knit working-class family, took shape at the Anna Scher Theatre, and changed forever when she was cast in EastEnders at just ten years old.

Natalie reflects on growing up surrounded by adults, losing the privacy her parents had valued, and navigating fame before she was old enough to understand what it meant. She speaks movingly about family, grief and guilt, the loss of her mother at nineteen, and the grounding influence of the women who helped shape her, from Wendy Richard and Barbara Windsor to the incomparable June Brown.

They discuss the strange psychology of child stardom, the realities of soap acting, and the courage it took to step away from a role that had defined her for so long. Along the way, Natalie talks with warmth and honesty about money, motherhood, class, friendship, ambition and the need, now, to be brave enough to try something new.

Funny, candid and deeply perceptive, this is a conversation about identity, resilience and what it means to build a life when the whole country thinks it already knows who you are.

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