ITV Emmerdale star Samantha Giles reveals she’s a Wicca witch – and used spell to woo husband

Emmerdale star Samantha Giles has revealed that she is ‘a witch’ and used a love spell to find her husband after being unlucky in love.

The actress, 52, who plays Bernice Blackstock on the ITV soap, ended up marrying her then boyfriend Sean Pritchard. Samantha joined Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary on the This Morning sofa to speak about practising Wicca, also known as The Craft. The soap star admitted that she started making her own spells kits in 2011 and occasionally sells them at psychic events. Samantha, who is the author of Rosemary and The Witches of Pendle Hill and Rosemary and the The Book of The Dead, said: “I did do a love spell to manifest my husband when I met him, well, 18 years ago now.”

She added: “I had a few shoddy boyfriends so I wanted to be a bit more specific with what I was after and I think that’s the key to it, to be a bit more specific with what you want to manifest. You might think your type is type A but actually maybe that type is not right for you, sometimes going against type is a good thing to do.” She also said that spells aren’t as simple as they seem as she explained that it is also “all about your mindset”.

Emmerdale’s Samantha Giles has revealed she’s a Wicca Witch

She added: ‘It’s massively about belief, there is no point trying a spell if you don’t believe it’s going to work, and also I have to say it’s a last resort, you can’t just be lazy saying I want this to happen, you have got to be doing practical things and the magic is the last thing you do.” The star continued to tell the daytime presenters that witchcraft runs in her family as her mum could read palms.

She then said: “My mum used to read palms when I was young, she never learnt anything but she used just look into people’s hands and it would just come to her. I never used to be able to do that but because we grew up with all that around us and we lived in the countryside and doing things outside.” But she claims that she has become more involved in Wicca as she’s got older, adding: “You don’t have to do the magic to be a Wiccan but I like to use it to empower and enable people in their own lives.”

Samantha and her husband Sean

Samantha had even leant her skills to This Morning’s soap presenter Sharon Marshall during her IVF journey by giving her a change of luck charm. She explained: ‘A change of luck charm has been very successful when people are using IVF. She won’t mind me talking about this because she has spoke about it herself. She had several attempts, I think about five to seven and she carried the [change of luck] crystals with her and she had a successful pregnancy, and I think she bought them for all her friends who were going through the same journey and I am pretty sure they all worked.”

This comes after the star said she is quitting her role as Bernice after 25 years – making it the fourth time she has called time on the soap since she joined in 1998. A source told The Sun: “Bernice Blackstock has been in and out of Emmerdale village more than they change the barrels at The Woolpack. She’s always welcomed back with open arms by ITV and fans alike, but it’s now becoming a bit of a running joke. It wouldn’t pay to bet on whether Samantha will one day be back, but for now she will leave the soap later this year.”