EastEnders’ Samantha Womack reveals huge chest tattoo after breast cancer battle
EASTENDERS star Samantha Womack has revealed she’s been inked with a huge new chest tattoo after her breast cancer battle.
The actress, who is best known for playing Ronnie Mitchell in Albert Square, took to Instagram to show off her body art.
Samantha, 50, posed for the black and white photo in just an open striped shirt as she lay in bed for the selfie.
The actress pouted as she looked up at the camera – going make-up free and showing off her glowing complexion.
She revealed the chest tattoo in her cleavage, which included a cross and moon design, as well as three upside-down triangles.
“Liverpool, tattoo finished on Bold Street,” Samantha told her fans, before heading to her Eurovision performance.
It comes after Samantha revealed she had survived breast cancer after having chemotherapy and a lumpectomy.
She spoke about how arduous chemotherapy is to endure, saying it took a toll on her mentally, earlier this week.
“It’s quite terrifying at the beginning. It’s important to mention that when it’s needed it’s still an incredibly powerful and potent drug and does an amazing job,” the TV star told the Metro.
“But when you’re teetering between grades, meaning how aggressive the cancer is, you can sometimes sit, as I did, on a very fine line as to whether it’s needed or not.
“And it’s such a brutal treatment to have, because it’s poison, and you understand that as it’s going into your veins, and you feel it very strongly.”
She continued: “After my second round, I could feel this panic that something was very wrong.
“And maybe that’s because at that point my cancer hadn’t developed so far that I was relying on it. It was a prevention for me. So, I stopped, because I could feel my body was starting to do strange things.
“And that’s really important. The information that I had in order to make that decision was vital.”
She added: “I’m still a bit tired. Physically I’m really well, but my brain is a bit tired. Sometimes so much thinking hurts.”
Sam is currently helping to campaign for more women to be given access to a revolutionary breast cancer diagnostic tool called Digistain, through the NHS.
The tool inform oncologists on whether chemotherapy is needed for each patient within an hour of testing.
She believes it could save patients a lot of unnecessary pain, and also save the NHS money if rolled out.
Sam underwent her lumpectomy last year to remove the cancer – but shockingly told how she couldn’t feel the lump.
Despite her surgeon advising her not to get back to work to soon, Samantha was soon back to nine show weeks.
She said: “I think its my Nordic, Viking genes that helped get me back in quite soon after the surgery.”