EastEnders actress Cheryl Fergison has been pictured with her husband Yassine Al-Jemoni for the first time since revealing her secret cancer battle.
Last month, the actress, 58, who played Heather Trot on the BBC soap, opened up about having been diagnosed with womb cancer in 2015.
Cheryl received the all-clear last year – and has since revealed that she kept her cancer diagnosis quiet in part due to a concern about losing work and income.
On Sunday, Cheryl was pictured with her husband of 12 years Yassine, who is 20 years her junior, as they headed out to a Chinese restaurant in Thorton-Cleverleys, Blackpool.
Cheryl and Yassine, 38, looked content as they arrived at Great Fortune House Chinese with a celebration cake in hand.
EastEnders actress Cheryl Fergison was pictured with her husband Yassine Al-Jemoni for the first time since revealing her secret cancer battle on Sunday in Blackpool
Last month, the actress, 58, who played Heather Trot on the BBC soap, opened up about having been diagnosed with womb cancer in 2015
Dressed for the dinner, Cheryl donned a floral skater off-the-shoulder dress with a pair of white trainers and a green head scarf.
The soapstar, who has a son Alex, 24, from her first marriage to Jamshed Saddiqi, revealed her secret stage two womb cancer battle last month after being diagnosed in 2015.
She kept her health problems private after getting the terrifying diagnosis nine years ago but in April shared that she thought she was going to die – calling it ‘a horrendous time’.
Cheryl revealed earlier this month that Dame Barbara Windsor paid for her mortgage after she struggled to pay the bills when she was diagnosed with stage two womb cancer.
She appeared on Loose Women where she discussed the moment she was diagnosed and revealed the huge gesture her friend Dame Barbara, who was the iconic Peggy Mitchell on EastEnders, did to help her out before she passed away in 2020.
Cheryl told the panel: ‘Barbara Windsor and Paul O’Grady all helped me.
‘I remember Barbs saying: “Come on you’ve got to come round my house”. So I went there and to the toilet.
‘I explained everything that was going on and I was going to have my operation very soon. Her husband Scott got his chequebook out.
Cheryl and Yassine, 38, looked content as they arrived at Great Fortune House Chinese with a celebration cake in hand
Cheryl was pictured with her husband of 12 years Yassine, who is 20 years her junior, as they headed out to a Chinese restaurant in Thorton-Cleverleys, Blackpoo
Dressed for the dinner, Cheryl donned a floral skater off-the-shoulder dress with a pair of white trainers and a green head scarf
Cheryl revealed the huge gesture her friend Dame Barbara, who was the iconic Peggy Mitchell on EastEnders, did to help her out before she passed away in 2020
‘She went: “So how much are your bills then?” She wrote a cheque out to help me pay for my medical bills and my mortgage.’
Speaking about why she finally decided to go public with her health battle, she said: ‘I kept it quiet for a long time to process it. If you don’t work you earn no money so I had to put on a smile and get on with it.
‘For me it’s about letting women know they should listen to their bodies.
‘We don’t have time for ourselves. When something happens you need to act on it. I wouldn’t have been alive if I hadn’t taken action.’
Announcing her secret health battle, Cheryl told Ok! Magazine last month: ‘There were some dark moments, especially at night, when I thought, ‘Am I going to die? Am I going to leave my husband without a wife, my son without a mum?’
‘But the time is right to talk about it all now. I’m hoping my story might empower other women.
Cheryl said Barbara’s husband Scott got out the checkbook when she confided in them about her diagnosis and helped her out financially (pictured in 2019)
The actress kept her health problems private after getting the terrifying diagnosis nine years ago but in April shared that she thought she was going to die – calling it ‘a horrendous time’
Cheryl also said Paul O’Grady supported her through the difficult time. Paul passed away on 28 March 2023, from sudden cardiac arrhythmia aged 67
‘I’ve been through a lot but I’m still here. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.’
She received her diagnosis after attending a regular smear test, which came back clear.
But after she started experiencing back pain and spotting blood which she knew wasn’t normal.
She then went to see her GP and she was referred for tests and a biopsy at a local hospital in Kent.
Four months after that she received the news she had stage two womb cancer.
Cheryl has now told how hearing the doctor’s diagnosis was like an ‘out of body experience’.
She said: ‘I was in absolute shock; stunned to the core. I couldn’t believe the doctor was talking about me.’
Following X-rays, Cheryl was also recommended for a full hysterectomy just weeks later.
Cheryl came to fame playing loveable Heather Trott on EastEnders for five years, before being viciously killed by Ben Mitchell in 2012 (pictured on soap)
She told how this hit her hard in case she had wanted to have another child – after her chances of doing so were already reduced due to an early menopause.
She had only just married Yassine when the diagnosis came and felt sadness that ‘any thought of having a child together had been taken away’.
The star shared the devastating news with a few pals in the industry at the time, including Dame Barbara Windsor, June Brown, and Steve McFadden.
She also confided in entertainment icons Paul O’Grady and Julian Clary.
Only last year, Cheryl was given the all clear.
Her sharing the diagnosis comes after earlier this month Cheryl revealed she was rushed to hospital, after being left ‘in complete agony‘.
She released a lengthy statement sharing that she was treated for an infection that left her in huge pain, but after six antibiotic drips, she was soon ‘home and on the road to recovery.