EXCLUSIVE: Samantha Womack, who departed EastEnders in 2017, has admitted she would’ve continued on the show if given the chance — but now she’s opened up about why she’s ultimately thankful for her exit, and how a return could still be on the cards.
EastEnders icon Samantha Womack describes her soap exit as a form of “trauma.”
The 52-year-old actress portrayed Ronnie Mitchell on the BBC soap until 2017, when both Ronnie and her sister Roxy (played by Rita Simons) tragically drowned in a hotel pool in Ibiza. Speaking to the Daily Star, Samantha recently hinted that the sisters could stage a dramatic comeback — suggesting it’s possible they might still be alive.
Samantha has opened up about how difficult it was to leave EastEnders, admitting she found it hard because she “loved” working with the cast and crew. She confessed that she had grown comfortable with the steady “paycheck” and would have continued on the soap if it had been up to her. However, she now feels “really glad” she moved on, as the decision gave her the chance to grow and evolve as an actress.
When asked about a possible return to the soap, she responded: “I’d never rule anything out now. At the time, staying in that role wasn’t the right decision for me — I’d been there a long time, and it made me complacent. You start getting comfortable with that steady income, which isn’t always common when you’re a freelance actor.”
“Basically, you become less creative and more fearful because you rely on that regular paycheck. So if I’d had the choice to stay or leave, I probably would have stayed, since our whole system is designed around financial stability.”
She added, “I’m truly happy now that I left because it gave me time to reflect and appreciate what a special chapter it was in my life. I really loved everyone there—not just the cast, who I grew up with as a young woman, but also the camera crew, makeup artists—we were like a family.”
The actress confessed that leaving felt like “trauma” because she had become deeply connected to everyone on set: “That’s what made leaving so difficult—it was like saying goodbye to a strange kind of family. But honestly, I’m glad it happened.”
Samantha joked that she’d come back if the opportunity arose, admitting she could always use the money. She added, “But no, I’d never say never to anything. I’m definitely not that wealthy.”
It sounds like she’s already got ideas for how Ronnie and Roxy could make a surprising EastEnders comeback. When asked about returning through a flashback, Samantha said, “Honestly, I’d be open to even more than that—if they could come up with some clever way to explain it, like maybe we faked our deaths or something mysterious like that.”
“Billy works as the undertaker. So maybe he gave us some kind of drug that stops your heart for five minutes, allowing us to vanish and sneak back to Ibiza—who knows…”
Actress and breast cancer survivor Samantha Womack is now advocating for women to inquire about their breast density after mammograms. This is crucial because having dense breasts means a clear mammogram result doesn’t always guarantee you’re cancer-free. The new Keep Abreast of Your Breast Density campaign, launched by GenesisCare and Samantha Womack, seeks to empower women with knowledge about breast density, encouraging them to ask the right questions after their screening.
Although mammograms are an effective screening tool for many, they can be less reliable for women with dense breast tissue, where abnormalities are harder to detect and cancer may be missed. Dense breasts are found in around half of women over forty, and alarmingly, women with extremely dense breasts face a sixfold higher risk of developing breast cancer compared to those with fattier breast tissue.
In the UK, women currently aren’t routinely told their breast density after having a mammogram, and those with dense breasts are not typically offered any additional imaging. GenesisCare is now pledging to proactively inform every woman who has a mammogram about her breast density score.
Womack comments: “It’s unbelievable that this information isn’t routinely shared with all women — so kudos to GenesisCare for leading the way on such an important issue.” After her own unexpected breast cancer diagnosis in 2022, Samantha Womack is deeply committed to raising awareness and helping others detect the disease early.
She explains, “I want women to be aware of the risks associated with dense breasts and feel empowered to speak up after their mammogram so they can make informed choices about whether to pursue further tests. Don’t hesitate to ask questions—it could save your life.
The Keep Abreast of Your Breast Density campaign not only raises awareness of these risks but also encourages and equips women to advocate for themselves by asking the right questions that could be lifesaving. Knowledge is power, and without it, tumors can go undetected.”
GenesisCare has also introduced a new screening option, offering rapid breast MRI scans for patients with dense breast tissue to aid early cancer detection. These scans, which are not commonly part of routine screening unless someone is at very high risk, are now available privately at GenesisCare centres in Oxford and Windsor.
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