EastEnders’ Cheryl Fergison left ‘penniless’ after discovering husband’s affair

Former EastEnders star Cheryl Fergison has opened up about the moment she discovered her husband was cheating on her

Former EastEnders star Cheryl Fergison has revealed the devastating moment she uncovered her husband’s betrayal after following him to a ‘sordid love nest.’

The actress, beloved for her portrayal of endearing Heather Trott on the BBC drama, brought her first marriage to Jamshed Saddiqi to an end in 2008 when his affair with another woman was exposed.

Now 59, Cheryl admitted it required considerable ‘detective work’ to reveal the truth following weeks of mounting doubt and an accumulating trail of evidence.

In her latest memoir Behind The Scenes, Cheryl, who has son Alex, 25, with Saddiqi, an Afghan refugee – discloses that her initial concerns were triggered when she detected an unknown perfume fragrance in his vehicle, reports the Daily Star.

“I pulled the seatbelt across my body and then it hit me. A scent. Light, sweet, floral and powdery, but definitely not mine,” she writes.

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She claims her former spouse attempted to explain away the lingering aroma as “a mate’s aftershave,” but her concerns deepened when she discovered an unrecognised number on their telephone bill.

Following a call to the number where she heard a woman’s voice, Cheryl was stunned when her second attempt to ring the same number was answered by Saddiqi.

“I began to suspect that my husband was cheating on me,” she records. “But I tried to convince myself I was wrong.”

The actress ultimately tracked down the spot where her husband was meeting his lover, and was stunned by what she saw after following him to a “shoddy, makeshift love nest”.

“And there, perched on the dirty bed she shared with my husband, was a skinny blonde woman, sipping a bright blue WKD like it was the most natural thing in the world,” she recalls.

“Jay stood next to her, caught in the headlights, but still silent, still unwilling to give me anything. Not an apology, not an explanation, not even an ounce of shame.

“That night, I packed up the car, strapped Alex into his seat and drove to London. Leaving my marriage and Jay behind.”

Yet three years after the divorce, the actress faced another devastating blow when she discovered that her accountant had left her completely broke.

“For five years, I paid him. For five years he pocketed the money and didn’t pay a single penny to HMRC,” she writes.

“Everything I had built, saved and worked for was gone. I don’t use the word hate very often. It’s a heavy word, one you can’t always take back, but in this case, I meant it. I hated him.”

She added: “Going broke when you’re famous is the worst, because everyone expects you to have lots of money. People assume that you’re minted. They don’t imagine you’re juggling overdrafts, maxed-out credit cards, payday loans and mountains of bills. But that was exactly where I found myself.”

The actress currently resides in Blackpool with her second husband Yassine Al-Jermoni, though visa difficulties initially prevented the Moroccan national from relocating to Britain after their 2011 nuptials.

Al-Jermoni remained nine years in his native Morocco, where a devastating earthquake, aid efforts and the Covid-19 pandemic created additional obstacles.

Speaking to OK! magazine, she disclosed: “We try to keep our business private but yes financially it can be a strain to get these visas. But we’re here now, we’re in Blackpool – the Vegas of the north! – and we’re settled.”

Whilst her EastEnders character Heather Trott endured romantic disappointment, the actress enjoyed a whirlwind romance with her second spouse after meeting online in 2010.

She promptly journeyed to his hometown of Agadir, and the couple married by the subsequent June.

Cheryl had previously revealed that she kept her celebrity identity secret from Al-Jermoni, who is 21 years her junior, for five months whilst they corresponded online.

During a 2017 stint on Loose Women, the soap star described savouring a conventional romance with her second partner.

She said: “We met online and wrote to one another on the computer and spoke on the computer. It was very old-fashioned.

“He didn’t know what I did for a living. I didn’t show him my picture. It was five months of chat before we met each other’ ‘I saw him and it was like ‘ping’. I knew he was the man I was going to marry.”

EastEnders airs Monday to Thursday at 7.30pm on BBC One and available to stream on BBC iPlayer from 6am