Happy birthday Samantha Womack!
As the super-talented actress and singer turns 50 today, Daily Star is taking the chance to celebrate everything she’s achieved.
Sam is probably best known for playing Ronnie Mitchell in EastEnders, a role she took on in 2007 along with Rita Simons, who pllayed her feisty sister Roxy.
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But she is much more than just a soap actress. As well as being a gifted singer and stage performer, Samantha has taken part in various reality shows and raised money for charities such as Sport Relief.
(Image: UK Press via Getty Images)
She was born in Brighton and had a fairly showbizzy upbringing. Her mum was a model and actress, her dad was a singer/songwriter and her grandmother was a famous choreographer.
She even lived with her granny on board the QE2 ship for a time.
Samantha went to school with the All Saints Appleton sisters before attending the Sylvia Young Theatre School (other famous alumni include Amy Winehouse, Billie Piper, Lily Cole and Tom Fletcher).
(Image: Instagram/ @samzjanus)
She’s also the niece of Angie Best, as her dad’s sister was married to the late footie legend George Best.
Samantha’s love life has been equally as tumultuous, as she split from her Emmerdale actor Mark Womack last year, but still shares a home with him.
So from Eurovision fame at the start of her career to battling breast cancer, here are some of Samantha Womack’s most notable life events.
Eurovision beginnings
(Image: EurovisionAgain Songs Collection/Youtube)
At age 18 Samantha won the A Song For Europe Contest to represent the UK in the Eurovision, held that year in Rome. She came joint 10th place with the song A Message To Your Heart, which also peaked at number 30 on the UK Singles Chart.
She has since said of the experience that she was “devastated” at failing to win and thought her career was over. Saalso thought she looked “ridiculous” and was in fact, “ a bit traumatised” by the competition.
It wasn’t all bad though and she added to the BBC: “I just always remember that era as being kind of breaking into ladette culture, you know everything just seems a bit loud, crazy and mad.
“Eurovision was definitely all of those things.”
Stalker and death threats
(Image: BBC/Jack Barnes)
Back in 2011 before Samantha left EastEnders she was involved in a deeply controversial storyline about cot death.
The harrowing narrative meant the BBC received more than 6,000 complaints including from parenting site Mumsnet.
Samantha’s character’s baby dies and then she swaps it for a neighbour’s healthy newborn. The storyline was so upsetting viewers even verbally attacked Samantha, calling her a “murdering ****”, effectively confusing fact with fiction.
Critics slammed the “ill-informed” storyline for portraying grieving mums as “unhinged” and the backlash was so severe that it was rumoured it was the reason that Samantha actually left the hit show.
She said at the time to the Daily Mail: “I understand why there has been a lot of anger and complaints about the storyline.
(Image: Dave Benett/Getty Images)
“I can confirm I am leaving the show, but other than that I can’t really say.”
That’s not all, a few years later in 2015, Samantha had a stalker.
A man called Peter Rombough, now 30, used to lurk outside her home and had an “unhealthy crush” on the actress.
He even wrote her a letter saying he feared he “couldn’t deal with the consequences” of her rejecting him and had feelings for her since he was 16.
(Image: South Beds News)
Rombough, from Norfolk, was given an eight-week suspended sentence and subjected to a restraining order.
Samantha said the stalking ordeal had a “massive impact” on her life and that she was afraid to leave her home.
She also said at the time: “I can’t stop thinking about it. He’s a total stranger, but I’m concerned about his well-being and do hope he is okay and needs to seek some help.”
Breast cancer
(Image: @Sam_Womack/Twitter)
Earlier this year Samantha announced she had breast cancer and just says later updated fans with her diagnosis.
She explained she had gone in for a breast cancer operation and was now recovering at home with help from her boyfriend.
Sam wrote: “Recuperating after breast cancer op.
“My love makes me turmeric and ginger in the morning and homemade butternut squash soup in the evening… feeling loved and grateful.”
She also paid tribute to Olivia Newton-John, who passed away from the disease aged 73 in August. The Grease star had been battling breast cancer for many years.
Samantha shared a picture of her with the star and said” “This was the most magical of evenings. Olivia and Chloe had come to see Grease in London and we had dinner together afterwards.
“I was so excited and in awe, she was my childhood.
“I now start my own battle with this disease and am left feeling deeply moved.”
Life after EastEnders
(Image: Liverpool Echo)
Since her EastEnders tenure finished Samantha’s been very busy. She was almost a BGT judge, but said the gig just “wasn’t her”.
She’s been on Who Do You Think You Are, All Star Family Fortunes and starred in the British sitcom Buffering.
Most notably Smanatha has continued her success on the stage. In 2017 she played Morticia Addams in the Addams Family musical then went to play Fairy Bow Bells in Dick Whittington.
(Image: @Sam_Womack/Twitter)
She’s also appeared in the film Kingsman: The Secret Service alongside Taron Egerton.
Samantha was married to Junfan Mantovani in 1997 before marrying actor Mark Womack. The pair have two children together, Benjamin, 21, and Lily-Rose, 17. However, they “quietly separated” in 2018.
She is currently in a relationship with Corrie actor Oliver Farnworth.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
