Heather Peace is best known for playing Eve Urwin in EastEnders. She joined the long-standing show in October 2021 and has since had some incredible storylines, including being poisoned by her ex-husband on her wedding day.
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Despite being an actress, Heather prefers to keep her personal life private. Indeed, that may have been why she didn’t announce her breast cancer diagnosis straight away and waited until her treatment had ended.
Peace shared a video on her Instagram to tell her followers about her journey and how the disease changed her life.
Heather Peace shares that she had breast cancer
On Monday, May 12, 2025, Heather Peace shared a video of her getting a wig fitted. In the caption, she explained that the post was ‘an important part of her recent journey’.
The actress revealed that she was diagnosed with breast cancer at the beginning of October 2024. Peace underwent surgery and chemotherapy over the Christmas period. Heather decided to wait until the end of her treatment to share the news.
She wrote on her post:
I was diagnosed with breast cancer at the beginning of October. Since then I’ve undergone surgery and recovery over the Christmas period and today my chemotherapy journey ended.
Peace compared her cancer journey to running the London Marathon, saying that the end of her treatment was like she’d ‘turned onto The Mall and could see the giant clock & the finish line’ and she ‘just picked up her medal’.
As with many people who go through cancer, Heather admits her outlook on the world has changed.
But I’m forever changed.
During this time I’ve narrowed my world.
Adding:
Life feels very different now and it’s wonderful. I will continue to cherish and be grateful for all I am blessed with. I feel very lucky.
Heather Peace thanks her support system
Cancer can be a scary time for so many people. During this time, they rely heavily on their support system. This was no different for Heather Peace.
In her Instagram post, she thanks the NHS for its care. She wrote that they treated her ‘efficiently’, with ‘dignity’ and with ‘kindness’. The actress also thanked the EastEnders team for ‘going above & beyond’.
Heather goes on to thank her ‘local community who’ve been there for me and my family at the drop of a hat’.
Finally, she thanks her wife, Ellie, and their three children, Annie, Jessie and Lola. She explained that she ‘had the most precious time’ with them and mainly tried to ‘appreciate every moment of them’.
As per Metro, Heather and Ellie Dickinson have been married since 2014. They had been dating for two years before their civil partnership. In 2015, they welcomed their first daughter, Annie Mary, and in June 2017, they welcomed their twin daughters, Jessie and Lola.
As mentioned before, Heather prefers to keep her personal life private, but in 2022, she shared a loving post to celebrate her and Ellie’s wedding anniversary.
On another occasion, Peace shared a post to remember the moment she came out aged 19, and that, at the time, she thought her life would not include marriage or children.
Read more:
Breast Cancer Awareness Month: These 8 celebrities have been diagnosed with breast cancer
Pam St Clement: Why she left EastEnders and what she's doing now
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Sources used:
The Sun: ‘TOUGH TIME EastEnders’ Eve Panesar actress Heather Peace reveals secret cancer battle with chemo and surgery in emotional video’
Metro: ‘Inside EastEnders star Heather Peace’s private home life with ‘soulmate’ wife and family of five’
