EastEnders star Samantha Womack told This Morning viewers it was her “Nordic, Viking genes” that helped her quickly return to work after breast cancer surgery.
Samantha, who stars as the Ice Queen in the West End production of ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ joined Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield on The Morning sofa to give a health update after revealing she’d suffered with breast cancer.
Phillip highlighted how quickly Samantha had returned to working on the production.
READ MORE: Barbara Windsor’s widow says she’s still ‘by his side’ and ‘makes skin tingle’
“I think its my Nordic, Viking genes that helped get me back in quite soon after the surgery,” Samantha replied.
Best known for her role as Ronnie Mitchell in the BBC soap Eastenders, Samantha took to Instagram in early October to reveal she’d undergone a lumpectomy and was due to start chemotherapy.
The star told her 103,000 followers: “I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has been sending me love after I shared my story about battling with breast cancer.
She continued: “So just to tell you where I’m at, I’ve had my operation. I had a lumpectomy and lymph node removal, and I am now going to start my first session of chemotherapy.”
While on This Morning, Samantha recalled her meeting with Olivia Newton John, who died in August this year after her 30 year battle with breast cancer.
“What struck me was her journey was 30 years and I was just at the beginning – I’d had dinner with her when I played Sandy in Grease and looking back, it was really moving,” Samantha recalled.
After the Hollywood actress had passed, Samantha took to Twitter to share a picture of her and Olivia and penned an emotional caption.
“This was the most magical of evenings. Olivia and Chloe had come to see Grease in London and we had dinner together afterwards,” she wrote.
She continued: “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”.
For more of the latest showbiz news from Daily Star, make sure you sign up to one of our newsletters here.
READ NEXT:
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
