Former professional boxer Barry McGuigan has opened about the death of his daughter, while appearing on I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!
Actress Danika McGuigan died five weeks after being diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2019, aged 33.
She had played Danielle in BBC Three comedy Can’t Cope, Won’t Cope and appeared in several films.
In an emotional conversation, McGuigan told his jungle campmates on the ITV reality show about how she originally recovered from leukaemia as a child after two years of treatment.
“She had leukaemia, when I was making the movie The Boxer with Daniel Day Lewis, three weeks from the end I had to leave because she’d been diagnosed with leukaemia, they thought she wasn’t going to get better but she fought back and she won it,” he said.
“She had two years of chemo, she was good, she came back.”
When the Irishman started becoming visibly upset, his campmates offered their support.
“You’re a man going through pain and you’re vulnerable about it, that takes strength. There is no rules to grieving… it’s a reflection of your love,” N-Dubz star Tulisa Contostavlos said.
“It was hard for weeks in the hospital, just watching, shocking,” McGuigan said tearfully.
“Thank you, you’re all so lovely, I really appreciate it,” he added.
McGuigan is a former professional boxer who became World Featherweight Champion in 1985.
He is featuring on the 24th series of the reality TV show alongside the likes of Coleen Rooney, Danny Jones from McFly and TV presenter Jane Moore.
