ASTENDERS’ Cheryl Fergison has confessed she was conned out of a “humongous” amount of money.
The former soap star, 60, was forced to claim benefits and turn to a food bank for help.
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For the first time since admitting her financial struggles, Cheryl says the real reason behind it has not yet been revealed.
Speaking on ITV’s This Morning, the actress said: “There is a circumstance that started this. which I can’t talk about at this moment in time, but it started to spiral.
“The only way I can say it is I was conned out of a humongous amount of money.
“That led to the cancer thing and everything spiralled. I was robbing Peter to pay Paul.
“I ended up having to sell my house. Now I am living up north and renting.”
Cheryl – who played Heather Trott in the BBC soap from 2007 to 2012 – bravely spoke out about using Citizens Advice for help when she got into massive debt.
“I grew up in council estates. I’d never really had money and we’ve never managed money well as a family”, continued Cheryl.
When I was in EastEnders you suddenly get all this money and I thought, ‘I’m going to treat my friends and family to holidays they’ve never had’.
“When I got money, it would just go. It was frittered away. You think you’re going to be like the lovely Steve McFadden [Phil Mitchell] and be on EastEnders for ever and ever, but you’re not.
“If the jobs don’t come in as quick as they were then you start running low.”
EastEnders star Cheryl Fergison opens up on struggle to get acting work as she reveals money struggles
MICHELLE Collins has seen her second EastEnders stint boost her bank balance. Yet what stars have quit this year?
The Sun exclusively reported how Michelle, 62, was down to £20,000 in her company accounts when she agreed to a shock back-from-the-dead return to Albert Square last year.
Her character, Cindy Beale, was presumed dead off-camera in 1998.
Yet what about the 2024 exits?
Earlier this summer, loyal soap fans appeared to note how Stevie Mitchell had “quit” the long-running series.
It came after Alan Ford enjoyed just six-months on-screen.
Bobby Beale actor Clay Milner Russell also left this year after five years in Walford.
Fans also feared Martin Fowler actor James Bye would “quit out of boredom” over recent storylines.
Additionally, a host of stars have quit the BBC soap for Hollywood fame.
One of the most successful stars to come from the BBC One soap is Rob Kazinsky.
He played Stacey Slater’s brother Sean Slater from 2006 to 2009, he has starred in Hollywood blockbusters Pacific Rim and Captain Marvel.
Ben Hardy, who quit EastEnders as Bobby Beale almost a decade ago, went on to break Hollywood the following year, when he starred as Archangel in X-Men: Apocalypse.
Since then, he has played Roger Taylor in Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, and he starred in Michael Bay’s Netflix movie 6 Underground.
Michelle Ryan played Zoe Slater until 2005.
She starred as the lead in short-lived American series Bionic Woman from 2007 to 2008.
