I'm A Celebrity star Barry McGuigan breaks down over daughter's sudden death from cancer

I'm A Celebrity's Barry McGuigan broke down in tears in front of his campmates after he shared the tragic story of his daughter's death.

The current series of the ITV programme started on November 17, featuring McFly star Danny Jones, broadcaster Dean McCullough, and WAG Coleen Rooney embarking on their jungle adventure.

Emotions ran deep in tonight's instalment as Barry, the ex-boxing world champion, shared the heart-wrenching tale of his daughter Danika's illness and untimely death.

While the contestants were sitting around the campfire, Dean asked the 63-year-old if he goes to church, to which Barry candidly responded: “I used to go to church a lot but after my daughter… you know, not so much.”

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McGuigan tragically lost his daughter in 2019, five weeks after she was diagnosed with stage four bowel cancer.

Explaining the loss of Danika, he said: “She had leukaemia, when I was making [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.”

Danika, known as Nika, beat the disease when she was a child and went on to build an acting career, and she even appeared in the 2016 Irish drama Mammal, alongside Barry Keoghan.

Unfortunately, the actress faced another bout of the illness in her early thirties.

As the former boxer shared the story, Barry became overwhelmed and cried. His campmates quickly came together to comfort him, with Danny and N-Dubz singer Tulisa giving him a hug.

Speaking of the second bout of cancer, he told Jane Moore that Nika had “pains in her tummy but she was making the movie, she put it off and went to the doctor, called us all in. Stage 4 bowel cancer, 5 weeks, 5 weeks she died.”

Barry has previously opened up about his grief and confessed that he will never recover from the loss. Speaking to BelfastLive in 2021, he said: "I lost my daughter two years ago and it’s been shocking.

"I'll never recover from it. My life will go on but I’ll never be the same because family means everything to me."

Although Nika was Barry's only daughter, he has three sons; Shane, Jake, and Blane with his wife of over 40 years, Sandra.

I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! continues tomorrow night at 9pm on ITV1 and ITVX followed by I'm A Celebrity: Unpacked on ITV2 after the main show.