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She's been at the centre of the most controversial storylines that EastEnders has ever known - and now Samantha Womack has revealed more about why she decided to quit as baby swap baddie Ronnie Branning.
She revealed that she found filming the final scenes in the plot so harrowing, she even banned her own children from watching them.
The 38-year-old actress described the controversial baby swap storyline as 'draining emotionally and physically' and said she chopped off her long blonde hair and dyed it as soon as she finished playing the part to symbolically sever ties with the role.
The storyline, which saw Ronnie lose baby James to cot death on New Year's Eve before swapping him with Kat Moon's live newborn Tommy, is the most complained about in the show's history.
Almost 9,000 people complained, prompting bosses to bring the story to an early end in response to the audience reaction.
Womack told this week's issue of Hello! magazine: 'I did find the storyline very, very difficult to play. It was draining emotionally and physically and by the end I was shattered.
'I worked out I'd been crying or screaming at work every day for six days a week for over two years. Can you imagine how exhausting and tiring that is?
'You're crying, weeping and telling your brain something awful has happened, so of course that is going to affect you and your body. My brain may know I am acting, but my body was doing a different thing.
'I needed to stop and find peace, a bit like Ronnie.'
Womack, who first appeared in the soap in 2007, said it was 'liberating' to lose her character's distinctive blonde locks.
She said: 'I wanted to look different, I had my hair cut shorter and went red. It felt liberating especially walking down the street afterwards as nobody recognised me.'
Her final scenes will be broadcast next week, but her 10-year-old son and six-year-old daughter will not be watching.
She said earlier scenes, where her on-screen daughter Danielle died, had upset her son when he watched them, adding: 'He saw it through a child's perspective so I learnt my lesson then.'
Meanwhile, in those final scenes to be broadcast next week, Ronnie is seen having one last moment with baby Tommy.
Ronnie apparently sees the baby alone and crying in his pram in the playground near the garages, and rushes to pick him up and try and comfort him.
However, his parents Kat and Alfie Moon are nearby - and are seen looking on in horror.
Apparently, deluded Ronnie begs them to believe that Michael has set her up and she didnĂt take Tommy, but they are not interested in listening to her.
Later, Ronnie is in the dock awaiting her sentencing - but in typical EastEnders' 'doof doof' fashion, there will be a cliffhanger as to whether or not she goes to prison.
Ronnie's swansong will be screened next week on BBC1 on 7 July at 7.30pm.
sourceShe revealed that she found filming the final scenes in the plot so harrowing, she even banned her own children from watching them.
The 38-year-old actress described the controversial baby swap storyline as 'draining emotionally and physically' and said she chopped off her long blonde hair and dyed it as soon as she finished playing the part to symbolically sever ties with the role.
The storyline, which saw Ronnie lose baby James to cot death on New Year's Eve before swapping him with Kat Moon's live newborn Tommy, is the most complained about in the show's history.
Almost 9,000 people complained, prompting bosses to bring the story to an early end in response to the audience reaction.
Womack told this week's issue of Hello! magazine: 'I did find the storyline very, very difficult to play. It was draining emotionally and physically and by the end I was shattered.
'I worked out I'd been crying or screaming at work every day for six days a week for over two years. Can you imagine how exhausting and tiring that is?
'You're crying, weeping and telling your brain something awful has happened, so of course that is going to affect you and your body. My brain may know I am acting, but my body was doing a different thing.
'I needed to stop and find peace, a bit like Ronnie.'
Womack, who first appeared in the soap in 2007, said it was 'liberating' to lose her character's distinctive blonde locks.
She said: 'I wanted to look different, I had my hair cut shorter and went red. It felt liberating especially walking down the street afterwards as nobody recognised me.'
Her final scenes will be broadcast next week, but her 10-year-old son and six-year-old daughter will not be watching.
She said earlier scenes, where her on-screen daughter Danielle died, had upset her son when he watched them, adding: 'He saw it through a child's perspective so I learnt my lesson then.'
Meanwhile, in those final scenes to be broadcast next week, Ronnie is seen having one last moment with baby Tommy.
Ronnie apparently sees the baby alone and crying in his pram in the playground near the garages, and rushes to pick him up and try and comfort him.
However, his parents Kat and Alfie Moon are nearby - and are seen looking on in horror.
Apparently, deluded Ronnie begs them to believe that Michael has set her up and she didnĂt take Tommy, but they are not interested in listening to her.
Later, Ronnie is in the dock awaiting her sentencing - but in typical EastEnders' 'doof doof' fashion, there will be a cliffhanger as to whether or not she goes to prison.
Ronnie's swansong will be screened next week on BBC1 on 7 July at 7.30pm.
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