George Michael had a secret friendship with former 'EastEnders' actress Cheryl Fergison.

Cheryl Fergison

Cheryl Fergison

The 51-year-old actress played the bubbly launderette worker for five years and the character was a super-fan of George - who passed away on Christmas Day (25.12.16) at the age of 53 - and his former band Wham! and her obsession with the 'Fast Love' hitmaker was often referenced in storylines and she once even made a trip to what she thought was the musician's house.

Cheryl has now revealed that she and George became pals as he was a fan of the BBC One soap and in particular her alter ego Heather and he would often send her gifts and signed memorabilia.

In an appearance on 'Loose Women' on Friday (27.01.17), she shared: "I was lucky enough to have met him, I was lucky enough to have listened to him talking to me about storylines I was in. He used to send presents and signed gifts (to me). I've actually got a thing that says, 'From a fan to a fan, love George.' Things like this you just think, 'Oh my gosh.' It's just so sad. Whatever troubles people have in their lives, whatever they are, you cannot deny that man was a talent beyond anything else and his heart was beautiful and his soul was beautiful and he had the most gorgeous voice. Those that didn't like George Michael they must be aliens!"

Cheryl readily admits she was "devastated" when she heard the news of George's passing.

In an eerie coincidence, Cheryl had recorded a voice part for an 'EastEnders' scene which aired on Christmas Eve (24.12.16) in which Dot Branning (June Brown) discovered an old cassette tape as she cleared out the launderette which was a music playlist Heather and her friend Shirley Carter (Linda Henry) had made and featured Heather talking about her love of George and Christmas.

Speaking about the scene which aired just hours before George died in the early hours of Christmas morning, she said: "I was very lucky to return to 'EastEnders' to do a little recording for the Christmas Eve episode which was this thing for Dot. So Dot was leaving the launderette and she had a cassette and it was memories of us and we were talking. Heather was a big George Michael fan - so am I - and I was basically talking about George, and I would say stuff like, 'Oh Christmas isn't Christmas without a bit of George and a bit of Wham!' Then it must have been about 12 hours later that he passed away. I was devastated, absolutely devastated."

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