“The ex-BBC soap actress revealed that losing her cherished rescue dog Lola was even more painful than her breast cancer diagnosis.”
Back in August 2022, former EastEnders star Samantha Womack revealed her shocking breast cancer diagnosis in an Instagram post paying tribute to the late Grease star Olivia Newton-John. However, in a recent interview, she admitted that her deepest heartbreak that year wasn’t her illness, but the loss of her beloved rescue dog, Lola.
“She died on the same day as the Queen,” Samantha told The Times. “I was devastated. It was one of the worst days of my life. I had just been diagnosed with breast cancer, and losing Lola was probably even harder for me. It made everything feel so real.”
Following this devastating loss, Samantha moved to her home in the mountains of Valencia, eastern Spain, where she could focus on her health and recovery. She explained that Lola’s death had changed the course of her life, giving her space to heal both physically and emotionally.
The animal lover honored her loyal companion with a touching post, writing: “My heart is broken. My soulmate Lola – cannot cope with losing you, not now,” which prompted an outpouring of support from friends and followers.
Samantha shares her Valencia home with an impressive menagerie, including two tiny 13-year-old chihuahuas, a five-year-old cavapoo, a Galgo Español (Spanish greyhound), a Podenco—another traditional Spanish breed—and a 14-year-old Yorkshire terrier. She recounted how she came to adopt the senior Yorkshire Terrier, whom she named Otto, while delivering food donations to a rescue centre after Spain’s devastating autumn 2024 floods.
When a volunteer asked if she might consider taking home one of the dogs, Samantha hesitated, explaining she already had five at home.
“But then I turned around and there was Otto, huddled with six chickens in an overcrowded kennel that had flooded and hadn’t drained. Otto was shaking—he has arthritis, his little sore joints were submerged in water, he could barely see, and he had the worst breath ever. I thought, ‘Well, clearly that’s the dog for me!’”
Samantha’s relatives reluctantly accepted the newest addition to the household, assuming the elderly pooch had only a year or two left. However, Samantha insists, “I’ve never seen a healthier dog in my life, and he’s so happy.”
Her love for rescuing animals goes far beyond dogs. She once saved a small muntjac deer that had been hit by a car and even hid two pigeons, apparently attacked by a fox, in her BBC dressing room while filming EastEnders.
“I made a little box for them with newspapers on the bottom and hay on top so they could burrow and feel safe,” she explained.
Samantha cared for the injured birds with fishing bait provided by her co-star Scott Maslen, who played Jack Branning, the somewhat shady boyfriend of her character, Ronnie Mitchell.
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