By Jordan Lloyd Beck

Copyright mirror

Samantha Womack has revealed how her EastEnders axing ‘changed’ her follow her cancer diagnosis. The actress, 52, starred as Ronnie Mitchell on the BBC soap from 2007 until 2017 but was killed off when she and her on-screen sister Roxy (Rita Simons) drowned in a swimming pool. Since leaving the show, Samantha has turned to a career in theatre and recently starred in a production of The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe in the West End, but can now be seen in the football-themed play Dear England, which charts the life of Gareth Southgate . But she was dealt a major blow in 2022 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer, and even though she has since had the all-clear, she admitted during a chat on Monday’s Loose Women alongside anchor Jane Moore, and panellists Oti Mabuse, Myleene Klass, and Gloria Hunniford, looked back on the ‘terrifying’ nature of having to give up the security of working on a soap. She said: “When you’re in a place for nine years and you’re playing that character every day, and you’re embedded in that family structure, so you believe that the people who are your sisters, brothers, uncles, cousins, whatever, then you believe that they really are because you see them every day. “You go through all sorts of emotional things together, the birth of your children, funerals, and this is with the crew as well. You get to know such this wonderful group of people for such a long time and then Ronnie drowned in a pool. “I thought it was shot beautifully. In retrospect, it’s very easy to hold onto safety, isn’t it? Particularly in our game, being self-employed is terrifying. I don’t know if it was a favour [killing me off], but my whole outlook on life has changed. “I got diagnosed with breast cancer and survived it for no,w but the beauty of everything that happens to you, the ups, the downs, is the beautiful chaos of it all and what you’d miss if you weren’t here.” Earlier this year, the former Mount Pleasant star admitted that she started saying no to a lot of opportunities after her treatment, but knew she needed to do something to get back to earning a sustainable income. She told The Mirror : “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. “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 of Samantha’s post-cancer convictions is the need for women’s health – particularly breast health – to be more of a priority. She received her diagnosis after a private check-up, driven by a gut feeling that she needed to be seen. “I felt perfectly fine. There was no discolouration of skin, dimpling, irritation,” she recalls. “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 she had a fast-spreading, Grade 3 invasive duct carcinoma and her treatment – a lumpectomy and lymph node removal, followed by chemotherapy and radiotherapy – couldn’t wait. As the stepdaughter of a GP, she threw herself into researching breast health. One of the most shocking things she discovered – which is why she’s teamed up with GenesisCare to raise awareness about it – was the number of women who don’t receive accurate mammogram results because of their breast density level. The denser the breast, meaning there is more fibroglandular tissue, the greater the risk of cancer and the harder it is for mammograms to detect tumours. The star, who is mum to Benjamin, 24, and Lili-Rose, 20, her children with her ex-husband Mark Womack , concluded that women mustn’t put their health at the bottom of their ‘to do’ list. She said: “We all live in busy worlds and tend to put these little niggles to one side. “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.” Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .