Ex-EastEnders star Cheryl Fergison reflects on age gap romance trolling
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EastEnders star Cheryl Fergison has spoken about the trolling she received over the age gap between herself and her husband.
The actor, famous for playing Heather Trott on the BBC One soap, has been married to Yassine Al-Jermoni for over a decade.
Speaking to OK!, Cheryl reflected on their more than 20 year age gap and the negative things some people have said about it, explaining she'd had to learn how to ignore the hate.
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"We went through the mill. It was horrendous. Obviously there's always speculation when somebody in the public eye meets somebody else, whoever it is, but we have had things thrown at us that should never have been thrown at us; things that would have broken others," she said.
"Everybody feels like they should have a piece of you but if you then don't fit the box of who or what they think you should be then it can be toxic.
"People don't bat an eyelid if an older man meets a younger woman but it's not the same the other way round. Yassine is an intelligent man, he speaks languages, yet he was being called a 'goat herder'; he and his family in Morocco hounded. We endured a lot."
The former soap actor then continued: "But we got through it. We kept our heads down, we ploughed on. And we're still here."
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Cheryl said that she and her partner had also faced difficulties with visas and other personal issues that meant that Yassine had to live in his home country of Morocco for much of their marriage so far. However, they now they live together in Blackpool.
A few days ago, Cheryl revealed that she had been diagnosed with Stage Two womb cancer in 2015 and recalled how her EastEnders co-stars supported her during that difficult time. She was given the all-clear last year.
EastEnders airs on Mondays - Thursdays at 7.30pm on BBC One. The show also streams on BBC iPlayer, where most episodes drop early at 6am ahead of their TV broadcast.
If you would like more information or support about living with cancer or treatment, please click here for guidance from Macmillan Cancer Support, or click here to learn more from Stand Up to Cancer.
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