EastEnders’ Samantha Womack, 52, makes final decision over baby with Emmerdale partner
EXCLUSIVE: Samantha Womack was diagnosed with breast cancer in August last year, and now the former EastEnders star reveals how her and partner Oliver's decision for having a baby
Samantha is opening up about a future including kids with partner Oliver
Chatting from her home in Spain’s Valencia mountains, with only her rescue dogs for company, former EastEnders actress Samantha Womack couldn’t sound happier. The 52-year-old underwent gruelling treatment for breast cancer after being diagnosed in August 2022, but says she now believes the experience has changed her outlook on life for the better.
Last year, the actress, who is already mum to Benjamin, 24, and Lili-Rose, 20, her children with her ex-husband Mark Womack, hinted she and Oliver were considering becoming parents together.
“We’ve talked about adopting, because after the cancer treatment I wouldn’t be able to conceive naturally and because of my age,” she says.
Samantha and Oliver met in 2019(Image: Samantha Womack/Twitter)
“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!”
The pair starred together in the play The Girl on the Train, which began touring in 2019. Later, they realised their friendship had blossomed into romance. The couple were brought even closer together when Sam was diagnosed with breast cancer in August 2022.
She is now free of the disease, but Oliver recalls: “It sort of changes your outlook and makes you possibly appreciate what you’ve got a bit more and maybe live your life a bit more as well.” Sam had only gone in for a routine check but Oliver cannot imagine what would have happened if she hadn’t.
“That really saved us,” he says. The way Sam handled her ordeal made Oliver even more in awe of her.
“She wanted to get through everything and get back on stage as quickly as possible,” he says. “She’s a real fighter, and she won’t let things get in her way. But, she was just so brave and eloquent speaking about what’s she’s been through and gracious.”
The couple first shared a fleeting encounter courtesy of Oliver’s then Corrie co-star Les Dennis. Les had just left the ITV soap after becoming Pat Phelan’s first victim, Michael Rodwell. He had invited Oliver to see him in the stage production of The Addams Family in which he was co-starring with Sam.
“I was meant to see it, but I was on a night shoot,” says Oliver. “But I was walking past the theatre to say hi to him and Sam was there too. I said, ‘Hi, nice to meet you’ and that was it!
Samantha played Ronnie Mitchell in EastEnders(Image: BBC/Jack Barnes)
“We properly met on The Girl on the Train. The play was only meant to be six months but then it went on for another six months. We actually worked together for pretty much the whole year and we became really good friends. And we just stayed in touch afterwards really.”
The couple clearly share an amazing relationship judging by the sweet posts Sam has shared on social media. Oliver is equally smitten, not least by his partner’s acting ability. “Sam was absolutely brilliant in The Girl on the Train,” he says. “She was on stage for the whole two hours. It was a very big performance.”
