Former boxing champion Barry McGuigan broke down on Good Morning Britain as he shared his profound grief over the loss of his daughter.
The ITV morning show returned on Friday, December 6 with Kate Garraway and Robert Rinder presenting. They welcomed Barry McGuigan, who had recently been voted off I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! to discuss his experience.
Barry opened up about life after the Australian jungle, and presenter Robert broached the sensitive topic of Barry's daughter's passing. "A lot of people were really touched on the power of your grief, how challenging was that and should we talk about it?" asked Robert.
Barry responded, revealing the depth of his pain: "It was the single most devastating thing that's happened to me, losing my daughter five years ago was dreadful. I've never recovered from it- me and my wife," reports the Mirror.
He continued: "Her life was so sad, it all happened at the most important time of her life when things were looking great and she got cancer and she died. Me and my wife have never really recovered from it and I don't think we ever will, just time teaches us how to deal with it."
Overcome with emotion on the show, Barry apologised to the hosts, to which Kate compassionately assured him that it was completely fine.
She explained: "No I didn't want to interrupt you, I thought you had stopped because I thought there was a delay. We can see the emotion pouring out of you. We saw it when you were in there as well and everybody just wanted to hug you then and hug you now."
Barry also shared how discussing his late daughter, Danika, on 'I'm A Celeb' has been therapeutic for him, but mentioned that being open in the past has sometimes led to cruel remarks from people advising him to "get over it".
As they watched his poignant story told on the show, viewers immediately took to social media platform X to express their feelings. One said: "What a man... You can see the pain of losing his daughter still lingers. How could anyone be so heartless to tell him to 'get over it? '".
Another supporter posted: "Aww poor Barry." With another adding: "This is heartbreaking to watch."
The former Irish boxing champion's sole daughter, Danika, tragically succumbed to cancer in 2019. After being diagnosed with bowel cancer that same year, she passed away just five weeks later at the age of 33.
Good Morning Britain is on ITV1 weekdays at 6am and on ITVX
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25795858/Squidgame_Unit_205_N080607.jpg)
English (US) ·