An Emmerdale legend, who was part of the ITV soap for 25 years, has opened up about her own death and shared her funeral plans.
ITV star Samantha Giles, who is best known for starring in Emmerdale, has made a heartbreaking revelation about her own mortality, confessing that it’s something she previously used to “worry” about.
The star, who portrayed Bernice Blackstock for 25 years on the ITV soap before departing in 2023, featured on Marie Curie’s On the Couch podcast to explore the loss of her uncle and her personal funeral arrangements.
During her 2024 interview, Samantha was questioned: “Do you ever think about your own death?”
To which she replied: “Yes, I do. When I was younger I used to be very afraid of death, actually. I don’t know why, because when you’re younger you’re sort of infallible, aren’t you?
“It should be the first thing from your thoughts, but I suppose I’ve always been quite a deep thinker so I did worry about it, because it feels like it can’t possibly happen.
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“How can you one minute be here and the next minute it’s just your shell? How can that be? Where are you, where have you gone?
“Questions we all ask… Then as I’ve got older, I think life is very, very hard and if you’re lucky enough to die when you’re older, if you’ve lived a long life and can get to old age and die of something related to old age… I think you’ve got to feel very blessed, haven’t you, because people get cut down very young.”
The soap star then highlighted that there are some people, who may have suffered from a long illness, who get to the point of being ready for death, reports the Express.
She added: “There must come a point where you feel I’m ready to move away from this life now because I’m in so much pain or because I can’t do anything and I have no quality of life… it must feel like a release, a relief.
“I just hope that I’m ready for it. That’s all you can… I hope that I have done everything that I want to do in life and I’m ready for the next chapter.
“Because I don’t think it’s over, and we have this soul or this spirit, an energy, and you can’t destroy that energy. It goes somewhere.”
During their chat, Samantha revealed that both herself and her husband are yet to write their wills, although acknowledged that they should.
She added: “That is something I’ve been thinking very seriously about the last couple of months.
“I have thought about one song that I’d like at my funeral. I suppose I should find somewhere to write these things down.
“I know it’s uncomfortable for other people, but if you write it down and put it in an envelope somewhere, you don’t have to tell people.”
Emmerdale is available to watch on ITVX
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