Former EastEnders star Natalie Cassidy has revealed that her nine-year-old daughter Joanie was rushed to A&E after breaking her arm again at school, describing the incident as 'traumatic'.
Accident Details
Cassidy, best known for playing Sonia Fowler on EastEnders, explained that Joanie 'smashed her arm into pieces' at school, two years after she had surgery on the same arm following a previous injury. The accident occurred when Joanie slipped over in the hall before PE class.
'I’d done a little bit of work in the morning at home. [Her fiance Marc Humphreys] went outside, put the paddling pool up, cut all the grass – thinking we’re going to have a few days, like a mini holiday, at home. And then the phone rang. [Joanie] had slipped over in the hall before doing PE. I’m speechless. It’s so traumatic,' Cassidy said on her Life With Nat podcast.
Emotional Toll
Cassidy admitted the experience left her feeling like she was 'going to have a nervous breakdown'. 'I really fell to pieces. I was not in a good place. Just her little body – and the medication and the trauma of it all,' she said. Joanie required a general anaesthetic and the same operation as before.
Medical Investigation
The soap star explained that Joanie underwent full blood tests to check for 'some sort of deficiency' that might explain her recurring fractures, but nothing was found. 'She’s had full blood tests, and everything is in range. It’s absolutely perfect. The consultant actually said, ‘I do think it’s just really bad luck’,' Cassidy said.
Joanie previously broke her arm in 2024 while doing a cartwheel in a playground during a family holiday in Greece. Cassidy also has another daughter, 15-year-old Eliza, from a former relationship.
Social Media Advocacy
In February, Cassidy threw her support behind the proposed ban on social media usage for under 16s, which the government officially announced last month. The ban is planned to take effect next spring. She backed a campaign called Big Tech’s Little Victims, an algorithm experiment showing what social media platforms show children who sign up at the current minimum user age of 13.
'I cannot tell you how shocking it is. They are looking at sexualised content, racism, violence, misogyny, extreme dieting going towards anorexia, self-harming and even suicidal idealisation. It’s incredible,' Cassidy said.
Leaving EastEnders
The TV star, who joined EastEnders at age 10, announced her departure from the soap in 2025. Cassidy admitted she felt 'free' leaving the show behind after more than 30 years of playing Sonia on and off. 'Sonia isn’t the most glamorous of characters, bless her, but I wanted to stay true to her character, so I never got extensions put in, or dyed my hair. She was just a worker who didn’t have a lot of money and worked for the NHS. But coming away, and breaking free, I just thought, ‘I want to be glam. I want to wear coloured nails. And just feel like me.’ I do feel like my face has changed a little since leaving EastEnders, because I was quite sad and depressed when I was playing Sonia, or angry all the time. So I feel like my frown lines have sort of faded away, which is quite nice,' she told Prima last year.
