EXCLUSIVE: In her new memoir Behind The Scenes, Cheryl revealed she knew it was her mum’s way of contacting her in death and that her mum had always believed in the afterlife20:08, 06 Sep 2025Former Eastenders star Cheryl Fergison revealed her mum spoke to her from the grave(Image: Andy Stenning/Daily Mirror)Soap star Cheryl Fergison says her late mum sent her a message via an unplugged stereo.The actress, who was dippy Heather Trott in EastEnders, also claimed the ghostly presence paid her a visit in Albert Square. Cheryl, 60, said she felt “great sadness” her mum Avril was not at her wedding in 2000 to her first husband Jay (Jamshed Saddiqi), father of her son Alex.They fell out just before her mother passed away aged just 52 – but then she spoke to her through her home sound system to tell her “Goodbye”. Speaking about when she found out about her mum’s death, she said her half-siblings came to her house.Cheryl Fergison had fallen out with her mum shortly before her death(Image: Andy Stenning/Daily Mirror)She said: “The doorbell rang in the evening and I remember thinking, ‘Who on earth is that at this hour?’ It was my half-siblings Helen and Glen, standing there on the doorstep, their faces ghostly pale. My stomach flipped before they even spoke.“’We… we’ve got something to tell you about Mum,’ Glen stammered. I knew, instantly. I felt the blood drain from my face and time seemed to slow down. ‘She passed away this evening,’ Helen said gently. ‘We’ve come straight from the hospital.’“Their voices became a distant hum, like I was underwater. Everything around me blurred. My eyes drifted to the stereo across the room where the display was flashing the words: Goodbye. Goodbye.“It always did that when it was switched off, just part of the system rebooting, but this time, it felt different. It felt personal.“After Helen and Glen left, I walked over to the stereo, intending to turn it on. That’s when I noticed, it wasn’t even plugged in.”In her new memoir Behind The Scenes, Cheryl revealed she knew it was her mum’s way of contacting her in death.Cheryl said the stereo wrote out the word ‘Goodbye’ but it wasn’t even plugged in(Image: Andy Stenning/Daily Mirror)She said: “My eyes welled up, Mum had always believed in the afterlife and so did I.“We’d made a pact, if one of us passed first, we’d send a message, some kind of sign, and there it was, a final goodbye, right in front of me.“I was broken, wracked with guilt – she had never even met Alex. She died at just 52 from heart complications, right before her triple bypass surgery.“That evening, she’d been out with Helen who later told me that she had said, ‘I’m going to get in contact with Cheryl. I need to make things right.’“She was going to pick up the phone. She was going to reach out, but she never got the chance.“I should have got there first and that thought will haunt me for the rest of my life.”Cheryl said that wasn’t the only time her mum got in touch – seven years later she popped up on set after she made it on telly as Heather.She added: “I know she’s still with me, though, I can sense she is around.“She would have been beside herself when I got the call for EastEnders, because she loved that show.Article continues below“When I first joined the cast in 2007, I swear I could feel her on set with me.“I’d sit in Albert Square on Arthur’s bench and talk to her. ‘Mum, I’ve done it. I’m here. Pam St Clement is just like you, she even looks like you, she’s my adoptive mum now’.”For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletter by clicking here. More