Patsy Kensit has been a household name for so long that it’s hard to imagine her feeling starstruck.
But when we catch up with the 55-year-old actress, she tells us that her latest job on EastEnders left her feeling totally in awe of her famous co-stars.
The star, who played Emma Harding – mother of the late Lola Pearce – on the soap, says, “I was so nervous on my first week when Jessie Wallace [Kat Slater] walked past!”
And Patsy reveals that, like many others, she found herself a bit giddy around Steve McFadden, who plays Phil Mitchell. “I swooned over him,” she tells us. “He is so lovely.”
Swooning aside, it’s clear that working on the soap – which she says she’s “watched for years” and is a “superfan” of – wasn’t easy, and Patsy admits she had to be on top of her game.
“We shot 40 pages a day and you really have to be on the ball. The writing is so great but I was concerned about the volume of scripts I had to learn. Luckily, I have a photographic memory.”
Patsy is chatting to us at a women’s lifestyle event – Postcards From Midlife Live – in Islington, and the mum-of-two looks like a woman in her prime.
She’s the first to admit that she’s had her fair share of heartbreak over the years, but the star, who got engaged to the millionaire property tycoon Patric Cassidy, 58, in February, is very much at peace with her life these days.
Talking about her romance with Patric, she tells us, “These things happen when you least expect it. I got set up on a blind date, so there you go.”
She adds that her expectations of a relationship are slightly different than they were when she was younger, with Patsy, who has been married four times, saying, “I think we have to understand that you are never going to be able to change someone. I use the word companionship. I’m not ruling the intimacy side of things out but relationships are different at this age, and that is good and OK. You have got to be hopeful and grateful.”
Patsy goes on to admit that it took a while for her beloved cat Bowie to get used to Patric, saying, “I don’t think Bowie liked it at first. My cat spoons me. He is a Ragdoll cat and he has got a funny way about him.”
The conversation quickly moves on to Patsy’s sons, James, 29, (whose dad is Simple Minds singer Jim Kerr) and 23-year-old Lennon (from her marriage to Oasis star Liam Gallagher ). It’s clear that the actress is very close to both boys and the proud mum tells us all about their achievements.
She says, “My boys are both involved in the entertainment business. One [James] is an artistic director for the Arctic Monkeys, and my youngest is a guitarist and models to make some money. I have protected them my whole life.”
Patsy is very attached to both boys and explains, “When James moved to Italy, I got the cat immediately and then I followed him to Italy and he was like, ‘Leave me alone!’ It broke my heart when they both became teenagers.”
She continues, “My oldest calls me every day. wherever he is in the world. They are close and they are funny together and wind each other up. We are crazy about cats and we always send cat memes to each other.”
The longer we spend with Patsy, the more keen we are to know the secretbehind her radiant glow and positive energy. As someone who shot to fame at the tender age of four in a Birds Eye Frozen Peas commercial, she’s certainly been through the celebrity mill more than once.
Whether aimed at her chequered love life or her appearance, Patsy has hadto cope with many hurtful headlines over the years. She tells us, “Elton Johnonce said to me, ‘You can’t start your day that way,’ so I stopped [reading the papers]. I had headlines like ‘Fatsy Patsy’ in magazines.”
Patsy developed agoraphobia as a result of being papped so often and says it’s still something she has to manage. “I do have agoraphobia and when lockdown happened it was great as we couldn’t leave the house. It does creep up on me if I get stressed,” she says.
“That stemmed from having people outside my house and being pulled to pieces and body shamed for being too thin, and then I changed my lifestyle and I put on weight,” she continues. “I struggled in my thirties as I was called ‘Fatsy Patsy’. The headlines were awful, shocking.”
Patsy tells us she was also deeply affected by the death of her close pal Paula Yates, 23 years ago, who died after overdosing on heroin at the age of 41.
“I knew her really well,” says Patsy. “The whole thing was such a tragedy and it affected me. But what are you going to do?”
The inner peace that she’s found today is partly due to a major lifestyle change, with the former Emmerdale star telling us that meditation is now part of her daily life.
“I started meditation nine years ago and it changed my life. I do my morning runs and it is good for my mental health as I have suffered from depression over the years,” she adds.
Patsy, who was often papped falling out of nightclubs with her ex-husband Liam in the 90s, also tells us that alcohol is now something she enjoys in moderation.
She says, “I had a few late nights in the 90s but now I am in bed at 9pm. The word ‘no’ used to be a hard word for me to use, but the best thing about being in your fifties is that I really don’t care what others think. We all make mistakes and do stupid things. We are human. I look back on my life and it has been a real ride. Real highs and terrible lows. I have a completely different take on things now.”
She continues, “I do enjoy a drink, but I enjoy not drinking. I get tired and an afternoon nap is heaven.”
As she heads towards 60, we’re keen to know how Patsy plans to celebrate the milestone birthday. “I would like to do a skydive and I will celebrate with my family when I am 60, and maybe have a grandchild. I am looking forward to becoming 60. I mean, it’s great. Where is the fear? I don’t want to be 25 again,” she says.
“We have such power and there is such a community of women now and we talk about things that were never discussed. In Victorian days they would put women into a psychiatric facility.”
Patsy, who says she’s “sure” she’s through the menopause, admits that at one point, her brain fog was so bad, she’d leave the house and not remember why.This all came at around the same time she had a cancer scare in 2013, when she had two benign tumours removed in an emergency hysterectomy.
She explains, “I went home from hospital and there was no support. I thought I had dementia. I thought it was the aftershock of the menopause. I did not trust myself behind the wheel of a car. I went to a food shop and I was like, ‘What am I doing here?’ I bought a cabbage, a pear and a pair of tights. That is whatI went home with.”
Patsy, who lost her mother Margie after a 20-year cancer battle in 1993, says she now keeps her hormones under control with lozenges, after she found that HRT didn’t work for her. “These lozenges are made at a specialist pharmacy and I take half. They don’t taste very nice but they work.”
In terms of Patsy’s career, the star has never been busier and has just finished filming a Christmas special of a detective show, which she’s sworn to secrecy about. As our chat draws to a close, she says,“I am so lucky, I have got the best agent in the world and I feel really grateful.”
