NATALIE Cassidy says the only reason she’s yet to tie the knot with BBC cameraman fiance is because she’s ‘a bit of a snob’.
The EastEnders actress started dating Marc Humphreys in 2014 – before getting engaged and welcoming daughter Joanie a year later.
But speaking on the Memory Lane podcast with Kerry Godlimen and Jen Brister, Natalie explained why it’s taken her so long to head down the aisle.
She says: “Do you know what? It’s a lot of money. No, I tell you what it is; it’s time and budget. It is because I go, ‘I’ll only do something small; I don’t need to…’
“I will do it small but I want to be at The Ledbury. Oh, I want a Michelin star meal or I’m just a bit of a snob genuinely. I’ll want the best flowers and I will want a designer suit,” adds the 41-year-old, who also has 14-year-old daughter Eliza with her ex-Adam Cottrell.
Natalie, who is best known for playing Sonia in the long-running BBC soap, first met Marc when he was working as a cameraman on the show.
Eagle-eyed EastEnders fans who think Marc looks familiar will have seen him on screen when he had a brief cameo in spin-off series, Secrets From The Square.
When EastEnders was forced off air in 2020, because of the pandemic, it was temporarily replaced with a show looking back at previous episodes.
In one episode host Stacey Dooley joked that the cast and crew were standing too close for social distancing protocol.
Her comment prompted Adam Woodyatt, who plays Ian Beale, to jokingly say: “We can’t stand Marc. But we have to be nice to him because he’s with Nat.”
Stacey clearly had no idea the two were an item as she remarked: “Oh, are you? You’re Sonia’s husband? Oh, that’s amazing.”
Natalie’s eldest daughter Eliza is already showing signs of wanting to follow her mum into showbiz – and competed on the 2022 series of Junior Bake Off.
Speaking after Eliza’s elimination it was only then that Natalie revealed she was her daughter, and how proud she was of her eldest girl’s achievements.
She said at the time: “I am proud of my daughters every day. But to watch one of them be so kind and helpful to others in the tent every night this week, has made me the proudest mum alive.
“I haven’t said much about it – nothing to do with me whatsoever. This was her adventure.”
