Former boxing champion Barry McGuigan was consoled by his I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! campmates as he became emotional talking about his late daughter, who died five weeks after being diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2019.
Actress Danika “Nika” McGuigan died on July 23 2019 at the age of 33, after her second bout of cancer.
The Dublin-based star, who played Danielle in BBC Three comedy Can’t Cope, Won’t Cope, originally overcame leukaemia after two years of treatment when she was diagnosed at the age of 11.
McGuigan told his jungle campmates: “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.
“She had two years of chemo, she was good, she came back.”
McGuigan’s campmates rallied around the former boxer as he became emotional, with McFly’s Danny Jones and N-Dubz star Tulisa Contostavlos giving him a hug.
“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,” Contostavlos told him.
“Thank you, you’re all so lovely, I really appreciate it,” McGuigan said.
The Irish star went on to give details about his late daughter’s second bout of cancer.
“It was hard for weeks in the hospital, just watching, shocking,” he said tearfully.
McGuigan said his daughter had “done all this work to get to where she was” having starred in the film Wildfire which received critical acclaim after its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2020.
“(She) never got to see the opening of it,” McGuigan said.
He told Loose Woman’s Jane Moore that his daughter had “suffered so much pain and said ‘mum I can’t hold on’” before her death.
“Stage 4 bowel cancer, five weeks, five weeks she died,” he said.
A family statement at the time said: “It is with great sadness and heavy hearts that we share the news of the passing of our beautiful daughter and sister, Danika ‘Nika’ McGuigan.
“After a brief but brave battle against cancer, Nika passed away peacefully in the early hours of Tuesday July 23, surrounded by her loving family.
“As a family, we are devastated and ask for complete privacy during this difficult period to allow us to grieve for our Nika.”
The Monday episode also saw McGuigan lead a bootcamp session at the Jungle Treehouse, putting Melvin Odoom and Jones through their paces with a series of press-ups.
I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! continues on ITV1 and ITVX.
