EastEnders Samantha Womack reveals emotional transformation following breast cancer battle

Daily Record

5 hours ago

Former EastEnders actress Samantha Womack, who played the iconic Ronnie Mitchell from 2007 to 2017, has revealed her incredible life transformation after her battle with breast cancer
Former EastEnders actress Samantha Womack couldn't sound any happier, speaking from her home nestled in the mountains of Valencia, Spain, with only her rescue dog for company. At 52, she endured intensive treatment for breast cancer following her diagnosis in August 2022, but now feels the experience has positively transformed her perspective on life.
"I feel so much more enlightened," says the Brighton-born actress, as she continues, "I know myself better, I feel humbler, I feel calmer."
‌
The most noticeable difference in Samantha's day to day life is her reduced workload - a significant change for someone who's been working almost non-stop since her breakthrough representing the UK in the 1991 Eurovision Song Contest, followed by launching her acting career in Pie In The Sky and Game On in the mid-1900s.
‌
For Samantha, saying no doesn't come easily, the Mirror reports.
"After my year and a half of treatment, I started turning down a lot of stuff – and I didn't have the bank balance to match that confidence, trust me," Samantha revealed. The star shared the news that she was cancer free in December 2022.
"It was me saying the word 'no' and my bank account creaking. But there was empowerment in that because I thought, 'OK, I need to go through this, spend time with myself and figure out stuff that I've never figured out – maybe stuff I've buried under a rug'."
Another belief Samantha holds strongly since her experience with cancer is women's health - especially breast health - must be given greater priority. She revealed her own diagnosis came after she followed a gut instinct and booked a private check-up.
She recalled, telling the Mirror: "I felt perfectly fine. There was no discolouration of skin, dimpling, irritation. I knew the NHS calls people in at 50, but I just had this thought of, 'I need to go and get checked before then'. I was just on the cusp of catching it too late and the speed with which I had to process information was unbearable. I sometimes think, 'What if I hadn't gone to that appointment'?"
‌
Samantha learned that she had a fast-spreading, Grade 3 invasive duct carcinoma and she could not wait any longer for treatment - a lumpectomy and lymph node removal, followed by chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
As the stepdaughter of a GP, Samantha immersed herself in learning about breast health. One of the most startling revelations she came across was how many women receive inaccurate mammogram results because of their breast density level. The denser the breast, meaning there is more fibroglandular tissue, the higher the risk of cancer and also its more difficult for mammograms to identify tumours.
‌
The star came to the firm conclusion that women should never let their health fall to the bottom of their 'to-do' list.
'We all live in busy worlds and tend to put these little niggles to one side,' she says. 'I'm an avid lover of the NHS, but if something is worrying you and you have the money to go and get yourself checked, why would you not? I did and it changed my life. Now, I want to empower women to take control of their bodies," she added.
Samantha acknowledges her privilege but admits her financial situation now is very different from her days playing Ronnie Mitchell in EastEnders, between 2007 and 2017.
‌
She said: "Soaps pay very, very well, but the reality of being self-employed means that, yes, you get paid for the jobs you do, but for the six months of the year you don't work, you don't get paid."
"I've never been a wealthy person. I've gone from job to job, always thinking, 'Better say yes because no one's going to want me if I don't'.
‌
"I had very low self-esteem. Going back to work after my treatment felt very hard. I couldn't quite step back into that neurotic, zany energy as easily. I was physically capable, but I wasn't emotionally capable. I was picking things that felt gentle to me," she continued.
One of those 'gentle' jobs was a guest role in the crime series The Marlow Murder Club, which she says "felt like a safe space" with a "lovely bunch of women".
"Now it's about things I feel I can emotionally connect to, without having to lose myself too much," she continued. "I'm not ready to go into a gold lamé dress and boogie about on stage."
‌
Another significant shift for Samantha is the amount of time she now spends on her own, as her partner, actor Oliver Farnworth, divides his time between Spain and the UK where he plays John Sugden in Emmerdale.
The set-up works well, she explains: 'He comes back for two or three days at a time, but is filming a lot at the moment. That's been quite good for me, having some space on my own. It's been rare in my life that I've been confident enough to do that, so it's been helpful.'
Late last year, the actress hinted that she and Oliver were considering becoming parents together, saying: "We've talked about adopting, because after the cancer treatment I wouldn't be able to conceive naturally and because of my age."
"But I think I'm learning to put things in perspective and hopefully, in the next 10 years, one of my kids will produce a sproglet and I can go from maternal to gra-ternal," she shared.