EastEnders star Cheryl Fergison self-harmed for years to ‘try and destroy cancer cells’

Cheryl opened up earlier this year about her cancer battle  (Picture: ITV)

Former EastEnders star Cheryl Fergison has revealed she self-harmed for years as she struggled to come to terms with having womb cancer. 

The actress, who portrayed Heather Trott on the BBC One soap, opened up about her ordeal last month, revealing that she thought she was going to die after being diagnosed with stage 2 womb cancer in 2015.

Eight years on, she feels empowered to tell her story to inspire others.

The soap star, 58, admitted she became obsessed with washing herself with scalding water as she wanted to ‘wash away’ cancerous cells. 

‘I hate the word self-harm but I was harming myself,’ Cheryl told Closer Magazine. ‘I was getting hot showers three of four times a week, the hottest I could and aiming it up my vagina thinking I would wash away the cells.

‘I was bleeding. I was sore, they could never put a speculum up me and relations with my husband were hard. I stopped that harm at the end of last year. It’s taken all this time.’

The actress played Heather Trott on the soap (Picture: REX)

The soap star – whose EastEnders character Heather was killed by Ben Mitchell in 2012 – only trusted co-stars with the devastating news at the time, including Dame Barbara Windsor, June Brown, and Steve McFadden.

Outside of Walford, she also confided in Paul O’Grady and Julian Clary.

Cheryl has recently spoken out about how much she would’ve loved to present For The Love Of Dogs in the wake of Paul O’Grady’s death.

Following the announcement that Alison Hammond would be presenting the ITV programme, Cheryl took to Instagram to discuss how she believes Paul ‘would’ve definitely given’ her ‘his blessing to do that job’.

‘You know, I can turn my hand to most things, I’m not begging for a job,’ said the Heather Trott star at the time. ‘I’m just telling you I’m perfect for a lot of jobs but you guys are not putting me up for them, letting me go for them, and I don’t know why. I say good luck to Alison Hammond for getting For The Love Of Dogs.

‘But I’m telling you now, Paul O’Grady would’ve definitely given me his blessing to do that job because I have a dog, we’ve discussed our dogs quite a lot and I’ve always had dogs in my life, and erm yeah, dogs are the best, it’s that simple.’

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