After talking about his daughter’s death on I’m A Celebrity, former boxing champion Barry McGuigan has stated that he feels it is “important” to discuss his grief.
The Irish boxing champ’s daughter, who was a well-known actress, tragically passed away at the age of 33 in 2019 following a brief battle with cancer.
Speaking on Good Morning Britain, following his exit from the jungle, Barry said his daughter’s passing was “the single most devastating thing that’s ever happened to me.”
‘I’m getting better as time goes on’@RobbieRinder and @kategarraway spoke to the latest I’m a Celebrity evictee Barry McGuigan about his late daughter Danika and how admirable he is to share his experience with grief. pic.twitter.com/mbguY1Ubc7
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) December 6, 2024
“Losing my daughter five years ago was dreadful, and I never recovered from it, me and my wife, but I’m getting better as time goes on,” Barry confessed.
“I used not to be able to talk about it at all, but I know it’s important that I do chat about it, and I know she’s there somewhere.
“And it’s just her life was so sad, and it all happened at a most important time in her life when things were looking great and she got cancer and she died.”
“Sandy and I, my wife, have never really recovered from it. I don’t think we ever will, but time teaches us how to deal with it.”
Barry left I’m A Celeb viewers in tears as he opened up about the loss of his daughter Danika on I’m A Celeb.
When asked by Dean if he ever went to church, Barry replied: “I used to go to church a lot but after my daughter… you know, not so much.”
Barry explained that Danika, whose nickname was Nika, had been diagnosed with leukaemia when she was 11, and got the all-clear after receiving treatment.
“She had leukaemia, when I was making the boxing 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. She had two years of chemo,” he said.
Over 20 years later, Nika was diagnosed with advanced stage colon cancer in June 2019, and she sadly passed away just five weeks later.
As Barry broke down in tears in front of his campmates, who were all in tears too, they all rallied around to console him.
“Thank you, you’re all so lovely, I really appreciate it,” he said.
Viewers were moved by Barry’s vulnerability on camera, and stressed how important it was to see an older man talk so openly about grief on national televison.
