Oliver Farnworth Opens Up About Relationship with Samantha Womack’s Ex Mark

Samantha Womack’s boyfriend Oliver Farnworth has revealed that he’s best friends with her ex-husband Mark Womack.

The former EastEnders star, 51, and ex Coronation Street actor, 41, began dating in 2019, the year after Samantha split from fellow actor Mark, 63, – who she was with for 19 years and share two grown-up children. 

Though their set-up may be something taken from a soap storyline, the trio’s relationship in fact works very well, with Oliver even revealing that he’s embarking on his new role in Emmerdale on the advice of former Dales star and ‘good friend’ Mark. 

The actor is set to make his Emmerdale debut as brooding character John Sugden on Monday and told how Mark, who starred on the ITV soap as dodgy police officer Mark Malone in 2020, was full of praise for the show and offered him words of encouragement.

He told The Mirror: ‘Mark is a good friend. I actually just spoke to him yesterday. And when I got offered [the part in Emmerdale], Mark told me it was a great job. He was full of praise for the place.’

Samantha Womack ‘s boyfriend Oliver Farnworth has revealed that he’s best friends with her ex-husband Mark Womack [Oliver and Samantha pictured in 2019]

Though their set-up may be something taken from a soap storyline, the trio’s relationship in fact works very well, with Oliver even revealing that he’s embarking on his new role in Emmerdale on the advice of former Dales star and ‘good friend’ Mark [Pictured with Samantha in 2014]

Speaking further about Mark’s kind advice, he continued: ‘I remember [Mark] saying when he was filming, that it’s such a gorgeous place to work – it’s really, really brilliant. So when this came along, I was excited. And it is great. He said to me, “I told you so” and I said, “You did”.’

Oliver, who played Corrie’s Andy Carver from 2014-2017 and Samantha, who is known for her role as EastEnders’ Ronnie Mitchell, currently live together in Spain and are often visited by her and Mark’s two children Lily, 19, and Benjamin, 23. 

And Oliver went on to say that he has just as great a relationship with them as he does with their father Mark, adding that they love cooking together ‘as a family’ in their picturesque paella kitchen in the Valencia home. 

Meanwhile, the soap star revealed that his relation ship with Sam is stronger than ever, detailing how her battle with breast cancer in August 2022 brought them closer together.

He shared: ‘It sort of changes your outlook and makes you possibly appreciate what you’ve got a bit more and maybe live your life a bit more as well.’

The former soap star revealed she was free of breast cancer in December 2022, five months after her diagnosis.

At the time she was having radiotherapy ‘to try and nuke any leftover cells’ and was having ‘ongoing treatment ‘as a prevention’.

She told OK! magazine at the time: ‘Now I’m just having some treatment as I go back to work, as a prevention… We’re feeling a lot better than we were.

The former EastEnders star, 51, and ex Coronation Street actor, 41, began dating in 2019, the year after Samantha split from fellow actor Mark, 63, – who she was with for 19 years and share two grown-up children

The actor is set to make his Emmerdale debut as brooding character John Sugden [pictured] on Monday and told how Mark was full of praise for the show and offered him words of encouragement

Mark is a good friend. I actually just spoke to him yesterday. And when I got offered [the part in Emmerdale], Mark told me it was a great job. He was full of praise for the place’ [Mark pictured in 2020]

‘My treatment is ongoing for breast cancer. The surgery was quite difficult to recover from just because it’s quite tender when you have lymph nodes removed. There’s a few mobility issues at the beginning.’

She recalled: ‘The first round of chemotherapy was pretty hardcore really, it was quite toxic,’ before adding: ‘I’ve got radiotherapy for a bit of time to try and nuke any leftover cells.’

In November 2022, Samantha revealed her breast cancer was found during a ‘random check’ and said the disease had ‘attacked’ her ‘femininity’.

Speaking on This Morning, Samantha said she didn’t find a lump when she was diagnosed four months prior, saying her cancer was discovered in a random check. 

‘It was really incredible because I didn’t find a lump, I didn’t feel unwell,’ she explained.

‘There had been a lot of illness around our friends and family and I just thought I’d get a random check and I had an ultrasound, and it showed a little shadow – at that point it could be anything, a cyst… then I had further investigations and then that diagnosis.’

Samantha described herself as ‘very lucky’ because the lump was less than 2cm and she was able to have a lumpectomy to have the piece of tissue and five lymph nodes removed.

She went on to describe breast cancer as a disease which ‘attacks’ your ‘body’ and your ‘femininity’ as she urged other women to get checked.

She said: ‘Breast cancer is a strange one, it attacks your body and your femininity, your hair, your breasts, all these beautiful women of all ages.

‘So many women should be checking themselves in their thirties. That is an important message to get out and checked as well.’

She also described battling cancer as ‘terrifying’ but praised the treatments that are available now to treat the disease.

Meanwhile, the soap star revealed that his relation ship with Sam is stronger than ever, detailing how her battle with breast cancer in August 2022 brought them closer together 

Samantha previously announced she’d ‘started her battle’ with the disease as she paid tribute to Olivia Newton-John, who died aged 73 after long fight with cancer.

Explaining why she revealed her news in that way, she said: ‘I always had quite a precarious relationship with what you share on social media but also challenging yourself, thinking, “Am I doing this because I want likes or am I doing this because there’s actual genuine intention behind it?”

‘So at the beginning, I was like, “I don’t know if it’s the right thing to do” and then Lily, my daughter was in the kitchen with Ollie [Samantha’s partner] cooking and she read about Olivia Newton John, and she was on her phone.

‘She just read it in the kitchen and I’d been with Olivia, just for a dinner after a show I’d done, I’d played Sandy in Grease.

‘It was just at the beginning of her diagnosis and what struck me was her journey had been 30 years and she was at the end and I was just at the beginning, and it took me back – I felt very moved by it…

‘I thought, “I want to share it. I want to talk to people. I want to put it out there” and it was amazing, the love that came back. I felt empowered by it.’