Natalie Cassidy Expecting Baby No. 1

Former EastEnders star Natalie Cassidy is expecting her first child, reports the UK’s Daily Mail.

The 26-year-old actress and new boyfriend, Adam Cottrell, 30, who met just last June at the Isle of Wight festival, say they are thrilled by the news.

“We haven’t really gone public with our relationship, so I guess this will be a bit sudden to some people,” she explained to OK! magazine. “But it was a whirlwind romance for us too, I guess.”

After years of struggling with her weight, the soon-to-be mom – who worried about not being able to conceive due to her polycystic ovaries – says she has been trying to find a balance between her pregnancy cravings and her desire to eat sensibly:

I can't get enough of chicken, mayonnaise and sweetcorn sandwiches! But I’ve been eating healthily – I’ve not been noshing down four cream cakes in one sitting and claiming I’m eating for two.

“My midwife says if you eat for six people you’ll end up looking like six people,” she adds “You really don't need to eat that much more when you're pregnant - even at eight months you only need an extra 300 calories a day.”

After losing a lot of weight at the end of 2007, Natalie released a fitness DVD called Natalie Cassidy’s Then and Now Workout – a decision she recently admitted to regretting because of the attention it brought to her weight: “I hope people realize that I really do have better priorities than caring what they say about what I’m eating or wearing. I just want to concentrate on being a brilliant mum.”

Best wishes to Natalie and Adam!