Former EastEnders star Natalie Cassidy has slammed a ‘disgusting and disgraceful’ fake news story that claimed she had been diagnosed with breast cancer.
The actress, 42, bowed out of her Sonia Fowler role in April following a huge storyline that saw the character wrongly imprisoned for murder.
Alongside sister Bianca Jackson (Patsy Palmer) and daughters Bex (Jasmine Armfield) and Julia, they drove off into the sunset for a fresh start on the other side of the world.
In the days leading up to her exit, Son’s abusive, estranged father Terry Cant (Glen Davies) arrived in Walford to make amends with her, but his true colours soon shone through.
After an altercation, the women locked him in their garage before jumping in his hire car and darting off.
Towed along in his speed boat, Bianca and Sonia waved on to their adoring neighbours.
Natalie has since gone on to host a new consumer series for Channel 4, and will front a documentary for the BBC about training to be a carer.
Taking to Instagram yesterday, she alerted her 531,000 followers to a sick hoax that made out she was living with cancer.
A screenshot from Facebook read: ‘Natalie Cassidy Breaks Down as She Reveals Breast Cancer Diagnosis: “I Didn’t Want Anyone to Know…” ….. See Details in Comment.’
This was accompanied by two pictures of her in character on the EastEnders set.
Slamming the vile claims, she wrote: ‘THIS IS DISGUSTING AND DISGRACEFUL.’
‘So many people are going through this and I have had messages asking if I’m ok.
‘It is completely made up and a terrible story. Take this down whoever you are.’
‘If something is not on my page – and my page is blue-ticked – then it is not real,’ she stated, referencing the social media network’s notable person verification system.
‘It is AI pretending to be me, and there is nothing I can do about it. It’s a hoax, it’s a scam and it’s a lie.
‘So please, I’m begging you, don’t click on it, don’t believe it, don’t read it, don’t give it any attention. It’s not true.’
The Mandy Dingle star had previously apologised to ITV soap viewers who had handed over bank details to someone pretending to be her.
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