Cheryl Fergison says the moment she discovered her husband’s ‘dingy love nest’ where he was carrying on an affair still haunts her 17 years on.
Indeed, the ex-Eastenders star – best known for her role as hapless Heather Trott in the BBC soap – ‘hates’ Jamshed Saddiqi for the betrayal she claims ruined her life and ended with her destitute and using food banks.
But unrepentant Saddiqi – also known as Jay – has insisted he has nothing to apologise for because they were in an ‘unhappy marriage’, brushing off the moment his then wife caught him red-handed with another woman.
Cheryl, 60 describes the devastating 2008 bust in her new autobiography Behind The Scenes writing: ‘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.
Fergison had tuned detective after becoming suspicious that her first husband was seeing another woman.
‘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.’
But 17 years on Saddiqi has no regrets about breaking up with Cherly with whom he had a son called Alex who was aged nine at the time.
Indeed, Afghan refugee Saddiqi, 46, has remarried and lives with his new wife and their two young daughters in Sidcup Kent.
Cheryl Fergison (pictured) says the moment she discovered her husband’s ‘dingy love nest’ where he was carrying on an affair still haunts her 17 years on
The ex-Eastenders star – best known for her role as hapless Heather Trott in the BBC soap – ‘hates’ Jamshed Saddiqi (pictured)
Unrepentant Saddiqi – also known as Jay – has insisted he has nothing to apologise for because they were in an ‘unhappy marriage’, brushing off the moment his then wife caught him red-handed with another woman. Cheryl, 60 describes the devastating 2008 bust in her new autobiography Behind The Scenes
His new wife, who refused to give her first name told The Daily Mail: ‘I know about his previous marriage to the actress and how it ended. But he has nothing to apologise for. Why should he be sorry?
‘He was in an unhappy marriage otherwise why would he have gone with another woman? None of this matters now because it all happened a long time ago and we have all moved on.’
She added: ‘I don’t know anything about this book that his ex-wife has written and neither does my husband. We have two beautiful children and are just getting on with our own lives.’
She revealed that Saddiqi previously worked in security and now drives a mini cab for a living but rarely speaks about his marriage to Cheryl, even when she was regularly on TV.
She added: ‘When we first met, we discussed where his marriage to Cheryl went wrong. I don’t want to go into any details but maybe they had a lot of cultural differences. But there’s no need for us to talk about any of this now.’
In her autobiography, Cheryl reveals how she undertook ‘some solid detective work’ to uncover the truth following weeks of mounting suspicion, and a growing list of clues that Saddiqi was being unfaithful.
She revealed that her suspicions were initially raised when she detected an unfamiliar perfume in his car.
She writes: ‘I pulled the seatbelt across my body and then it hit me. A scent. Light, sweet, floral and powdery, but definitely not mine.’
In her book, Cheryl writes: ‘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 now lives with second husband Yassine Al-Jermoni (R) in Blackpool, who is 20 years her junior after meeting him online but visa problems initially prevented the Moroccan national relocating to the United Kingdom after marrying Cheryl in 2011
Cheryl claims her former husband attempted to brush the lingering smell off as ‘a mate’s aftershave,’ but worse followed when the actress found a number, she didn’t recognise on their phone bill.
After initially calling the number and hearing a woman’s voice on the end of the line, she was stunned when her second call to the same number was answered by Saddiqi.
‘I began to suspect that my husband was cheating on me,’ she writes. ‘But I tried to convince myself I was wrong.’
After discovering him in the ‘dingy love nest’ she recalls: ‘That night, I packed up the car, strapped Alex into his seat and drove to London. Leaving my marriage and Jay behind.’
Cheryl’s book also details the financial woes she endured following the end of her marriage when she discovered that she had been left penniless by her accountant.
She writes: ‘For five years, I paid him. For five years he pocketed the money and didn’t pay a single penny to HMRC. [has this been reported before?]
‘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.’
She once revealed in an interview how she was forced to use food banks and had to turn to Citizens Advice for help because of her dire financial situation.
She said: ‘I sat there and cried and cried. It was shameful. How could I have been on EastEnders? How could I have been earning that much money and now I am here?
‘It was one of the hardest things I’ve had to do. I found it so difficult to be that vulnerable. But I didn’t have any money to do a weekly shop. I was trying to pay too many debts.’
At one point it emerged that she had been selling old EastEnders scripts for quick cash, charging fans £50 per item, and singing in a Chinese restaurant to keep a roof over her head.
Her financial problems were compounded after she was diagnosed with womb cancer in 2015, which prevented her from working, which she only publicly revealed last year.
The star underwent a hysterectomy which came with unforeseen physical and mental side effects and the actress was struggling so much she began to self-harm.
Cheryl revealed that Saddiqi previously worked in security and now drives a mini cab for a living but rarely speaks about his marriage to Cheryl, even when she was regularly on TV
Cheryl told a newspaper that she threw herself in scalding water multiple times a day in an attempt to ‘wash away’ her cancer but after being given the all clear by doctors, stopped harming herself.
She also revealed on Loose Women last year how Dame Barbara Windsor and Paul O’Grady paid for her mortgage and bills as she struggled to make ends meet while battling cancer.
She now lives with second husband Yassine Al-Jermoni in Blackpool, who is 20 years her junior after meeting him online but visa problems initially prevented the Moroccan national relocating to the United Kingdom after marrying Cheryl in 2011.
Al-Jermoni remained in his native Morocco for nine years, during which a devastating earthquake, its subsequent relief effort and the coronavirus pandemic created additional obstacles.
She told OK! magazine: ‘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.’
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