ITV I'm A Celeb fans applaud 'brave' Barry McGuigan after he breaks down in 'extremely moving' scenes

Boxer Barry McGuigan broke down in tears as he shared with his I'm A Celebrity campmates how he lost his daughter to cancer.

The former boxing champion opened up to his fellow celebrities in 'extremely moving' scenes that aired on ITV on Monday night. Barry's daughter Danika, an actress from Northern Ireland, died at the age of 33 in July 2019.

Danika, also known as Nika, fought two cancer battles during her lifetime, the first when she was just 11 years old, but sadly died five weeks after being diagnosed with stage four bowel cancer. Viewers were left "sobbing" as they watched Barry break down while sat at the campfire, with his campmates rallying around him offering hugs and kind words of support.

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During a discussion about going to church, Radio 1 DJ Dean McCullough asked Barry if he ever went. “I used to go to church a lot but after my daughter… you know, not so much," the boxer responded.

Loose Woman Jane Moore asked Barry about his daughter's health struggles when she was a child. "She had leukaemia," Barry told the campmates. "When I was making The Boxer, the movie 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, but she was good, she came back."

Barry then started to tear up as he struggled to speak. As his campmates rallied around him, Barry broke down in tears. "You're a man in pain," singer Tulisa Contostavlos told him. "You're vulnerable about it and that takes strength. There's no rules to grieving."

Composing himself, Barry said: "I've tried to talk about it. No matter what I do it just all comes back. Those horrible weeks in the hospital just watching her, it was shocking." Wiping tears from his eyes, he told his campmates: "Thank you, you’re all so lovely, I really appreciate it."

Barry explained that his daughter died after getting "pains in her tummy" during filming of a movie she was starring in. "She put it off and went to the doctor, called us all in. Stage 4 bowel cancer, five weeks, five weeks she died," he said.

Fans at home were left "sobbing" watching the scenes, and praised Barry for "bravely" expressing his emotions. "Barry is so incredibly brave, I’m sobbing," one viewer wrote on X, formerly Twitter. "Barry is destroying me. I am so broken hearted for him," another said.

"Oh Barry, that was a special moment," a third person shared. "Didn’t think I’d get so emotional watching I'm A Celeb. Unimaginable what he’s had to go through. Heartbreaking."

Someone else commented: "Barry has been to hell losing his daughter…the raw emotion he shows is heartbreaking," while another said: "Hard watching Barry McGuigan break down, when it's your kid it breaks even the toughest."

"How great (but obviously sad) to see someone like Barry, a boxer, someone known as a hard man, breaking down on TV," another wrote. "I wonder how many men have just seen that and realised they’re allowed to cry."

Fans were also touched to see the other campmates supporting Barry through his grief. "So glad Barry has found the strength to talk about this with everyone," one fan shared. "It feels like he needed a good group of people to really chat to about his daughter. Extremely moving."

Another said: "Aww poor Barry has been holding that in for SO LONG and he's finally felt comfortable to let it out." Somebody else added: "Sad to see Barry McGuigan so upset but fair play to him for talking about losing his daughter and lovely to see the rest of the camp looking after him."