EastEnders star Sam Womack shows off new chest tattoo after breast cancer battle

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Former EastEnders star Samantha Womack has taken to Instagram to show off her newest tattoo.

The Ronnie Mitchell star revealed the new tattoo on her chest, which she got ahead of a performance in Liverpool as part of celebrations for the Eurovision song contest.

‘Liverpool……. Tattoo finished on Bold street.’ She revealed in the caption. ‘Heading to Camp and Furnace for my Eurovision performance at midnight with my amazing backing singers Shania Pain GET READY!’

Sam performed her 1991 Eurovision classic A Message To Your Heart to a packed audience, before jumping on a train at ‘stupid o’clock’ to appear on Loose Women the following day.

On the ITV daytime show, Sam opened up about her battle with breast cancer, something she has been very keen to use her platform to raise awareness for.

Speaking to Metro.co.uk, Sam revealed that she had been contacted by many young people who didn’t realise they were at risk of getting the disease.

‘The Triple-A Negative cancer tends to be in older women, and I hadn’t realised that the Hormone Receptor Positive cancer, which I have, was actually really prevalent in younger women because of hormone imbalance.

‘We’re living in a time where hormonal imbalance is pretty standard and so I couldn’t believe that 40% of the messages I was getting were from women who were 19, 20, 23 saying, “I had no idea that I had to check my breasts.”

‘And so, in the same way that we push for cervical cancer screening, I would love for women to know that that is a real threat that’s out there.’

Though Sam was initially wary about sharing her diagnosis with the world, she revealed that she has been overwhelmed by support.

‘Rather than look at how it had been reported in the media, I just went straight onto the personal messages,’ she told us.

‘I was inundated with women – and men actually, who are also diagnosed with breast cancer – with so many stories. I just was blown away. And I really needed it. I genuinely believe that was the moment I started to feel less alone.

‘It was like suddenly speaking to women and going, “god, I just feel so ugly,” or “I don’t feel like I can cry because if I cry I’m going to upset everyone.” It was such a huge platform of invaluable advice.

‘They were the things I was worried about more than the statistics. I wanted emotional support more than anything at that point, but I didn’t feel comfortable offloading it onto people.’

Sam is heading back to work in July, where she will be joining the UK tour of 42nd Street the musical.

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