Sonia Shacks up with Wendys Man

Natalie Cassidy moves in with widower of Wendy Richard
By Rachael Bletchley
SAD Natalie Cassidy has moved OUT of her love nest - and IN with the widower of her old EastEnders' co-star Wendy Richard.

Natalie, 25, split from fiancé Ben Porter last month claiming she" needed space" to rethink her life after the death of the actress she called her second mum.

And now she has quit the north London home she shared with Ben, 40, to move in fulltime with Wendy's grieving hubby John Burns.


Natalie - who played Sonia Jackson for 12 years in the soap - was devastated when Wendy, 65, lost her battle with cancer in February.

She and a pal went to stay with heartbroken John, 45, and helped him plan his wife's funeral. And last week she collected her belongings from Ben's flat in Holloway and took them the two miles to John's£ 1million mews house in Marylebone.

Natalie - whose real-life mum Evelyn had also been killed by cancer - was helped out by a girl pal as she ferried bags, boxes and baskets to a waiting van.

Sombre

The friends swapped jokes as they packed.

But minutes later Natalie looked sombre as she left the flat for the last time carrying a pile of books - including The Wedding Planner and The Bride's Book.

A neighbour said:" Natalie looked dark-eyed and tired and it was sad to see her with those wedding books knowing that all her plans have gone awry. We haven't seen much of Ben lately but they made a lovely couple." A friend said:" Natalie has gone through terrible heartache since Wendy died but she has been a huge source of strength to John. It's terribly sad she has split from Ben.

" But the impact of the loss of Wendy has made her rethink her life and what she wants for the future." The pal added:" She had been looking forward to getting married in the summer but her priorities have now changed.

" John's been like a father to her and they are helping each other through difficult times." Both Natalie and John declined to comment.

she cant have thought to much of wendy then

OMG :eek:

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Originally Posted by sindydoll

she cant have thought to much of wendy then

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Not in a lovey way...

They might not be together in a romantic way but two grieving people sharing a home, not necessarily the bed.

Natalie must really like older men :p John Burns is 5 yrs older than her former fiance..Give it a few weeks, media will catch them walking around HAND IN HAND...:hmm: :rolleyes: and they will say ITS WHAT WENDY WANTED :thumbsdow

It may be all innocent she may just be staying there until she finds somewhere else to work, but if they are romatically involvled then both of them haven't thought very much of Wendy's Memory. Natalie will have to face a lot of hatered thrown at her.

Is it too help him or it is romantically :confused:

when i read the title i thought it was romantically and thought omg! after reading the article im hoping its just to be there for him etc

If she was there just to help him and be there as a friend why did they refuse to comment, if they have nothing to hide why all the secrecy.

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Originally Posted by Perdita

They might not be together in a romantic way but two grieving people sharing a home, not necessarily the bed.

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I hope you are right if not this is sick :sick:

Because the press are known to twist words to make their stories sell better. It is also nobody else's business, really. Who knows, her moving into his house might have been agreed with Wendy before she died.

Exactly the press twist things and nooo newspaper has actually said they are together.

I think if they were getting it on then Nat wouldn't be moving into his home, they would be more discrete about their relationship, but either way... they are two single people, sooo what they do is up to them, however distasteful, some of us might think it is.

shocked to read this,she must have known the papers would get onto this,people greave in different ways,but out of respecty for wendys memory and also knowing it would make the papers they should have had more sense,somthing tells me there will be more to this story,but in fairness whether we think its right or wrong it is there business,but knowing what the press are like for stalking ee cast and anyone with links to ee they must have been prepared for what will be headlines sometime to come

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Originally Posted by di marco

when i read the title i thought it was romantically and thought omg! after reading the article im hoping its just to be there for him etc

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Same here. Trust the media to think up suggestive titles like that.

So if Wendy was like a second Mum to Natalie, could John not be like a second Dad? They were all very close on the documentary that Wendy filmed before she died.

The pair of them were very close to Wendy, so why shouldn't they be able to grieve together? Plus Natalie's got the added heartbreak of splitting with her fiance, maybe this is what she needs, to be close to her "second family." Being in Wendy's house might also help Natalie feel closer to her. Everyone deals with grief differently, and if this is what suits them then they should have that respected.

They may have declined to comment, but again, they are grieving!! They clearly know what the press are like with twisting stories, cos lets face it, only the interesting ones sell. Sometimes it's better to just say nothing at all. Let's just hope they can be left alone to get on with it.