Corrie star Samia Longchambon shares 'weird' grief 13 years after dad's death

Coronation Street star Samia Longchambon shared a heartfelt post about how "weird" grief can be after admitting she tried to phone her dad — forgetting that he died 13 years ago.

Longchambon, who plays Maria Connor on the ITV soap, shared a picture of herself and her father Joseph to her 400,000 followers, revealing that she had been thinking of him.

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She wrote: "A funny thing just happened. I just thought I’m going to give my dad a call. He passed away over 13 years ago but every now and then for a split second I forget.

"And then it’s like a punch in the gut all over again to know that I’ll never be able to speak to him. I still have his number in my phone. Grief is weird isn’t it?"

Longchambon added that she thought she'd share the story "in case it happens to any of you who have lost loved ones".

Corrie co-star Kimberly Hart-Simpson was among the famous faces to respond to Longchambon's post, saying that she does the same with her own late father.

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Hart-Simpson added: "I also have loads of his favourite things around my house so I feel like he kind of lives here too."

Angela Lonsdale, who played Emma Taylor on the soap, said: "Grief never leaves us and hits us left-field. It’s only because we loved so much that it hurts so much."

Longchambon joined Coronation Street way back in 2000, when Maria was introduced as a new love interest for Tyrone Dobbs.

She has since become a stalwart of the soap, appearing in almost 2,000 episodes over the course of her two decades on the cobbles.

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Longchambon was married to property developer Matt Smith between 2005 and 2011, before tying the knot with her Dancing On Ice professional partner Sylvain Longchambon in 2016.

She has a daughter, Freya, with Smith and welcomed a son with Longchambon in 2015.

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