Who was Barry McGuigan's daughter? I'm A Celeb star opens up about Danika's cancer battle

19 November 2024, 17:13 | Updated: 20 November 2024, 17:09

I'm A Celeb's Barry opened up about her cancer battle. Picture: Alamy / ITV

By Abbie Reynolds

I'm A Celeb's Barry McGuigan stole the heart of the nation when he opened up about loosing his daughter Danika to cancer.

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*Content warning: This page talks about death and cancer*

By day two of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! the celeb campmates were already opening up to one another, with Coleen Rooney spilling on the Wagatha Christie saga and featherweight champion boxer Barry McGuigan, 63, getting chocked up as he spoke about his late daughter Danika McGuigan.

The conversation was sparked when the campmates broached the topic of religion and church. "I used to go to church a lot but after my daughter… you know, not so much," Barry admitted.

As Barry started to get upset while talking about his daughter, he apologised for his tears but N-Dubz star Tulisa stopped him, saying: "There are no rules to grieving Barry, it's a reflection of your love, the extent that you're holding onto a memory.

"It doesn't mean you're weak, it means 'this is how much I loved my daughter'."

Read more: Tulisa comes out as demisexual and explains why she's been celibate for 3 years

What happened to Barry McGuigan's daughter Danika?

Barry McGuigan breaks down over loss of daughter on I'm A Celeb

What cancer type did Danika McGuigan have?

Aged just 33 years old, Barry's daughter Danika passed away five weeks after she was diagnosed with bowl cancer. When she was 11 years old she had been diagnosed with leukemia (a type of blood cancer) and managed to fight it off after two years of chemotherapy.

"I was making the movie The Boxer with Daniel Day Lewis, three weeks from the end I had to leave because she's been diagnosed with leukemia. They thought she was going to get better but she did, she fought back and she won it," Barry told his campmates.

Going on to talk about how she was diagnosed with a different form of cancer later on in life, Barry broke down.

Danika McGuigan and her dad Barry in 2008. Picture: Alamy

Danika was an actress and had stared in a film called Wildfire, however it premiered the year after she passed in 2020. "She never even got to see the opening of it," Barry told Jane Moore and Danny Jones.

The reaction to Barry opening up on the show has been full of love and admiration. "Barry is already my winner….," one viewer wrote on X.

"We have to protect Barry at all costs," another wrote with someone else saying: "Protect barry at all costs, older men being vulnerable on national tv is so important."

Around the camp he had the full support of everyone. The conversation triggered emotions for Coleen who lost her sister Rosie, 14, to Rett syndrome, which she was born with.