Barry McGuigan’s daughter Danika’s heartbreaking closing on-screen second: Actress, 33, misplaced most cancers battle weeks earlier than her award-winning movie Wildfire’s opening night time – after the boxer broke down in tears on I’m A Celeb

Barry McGuigan moved I’m A Celebrity viewers to tears while emotionally discussing his grief, following the death of his daughter Danika in 2019.

The boxer, 63, was praised by fans for speaking about Danika’s passing, five years after she lost her battle with cancer at the age of 33.

During the discussion, Barry sadly revealed that her daughter Danika never lived to see the role that could have been her big break.

The actress had filmed a part in the thriller Wildfire, but died less than a year before it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2020.

Barry shared that the film received critical acclaim following its release, and Danika had ‘done all this work to get to where she was,’ before her passing.

Wildfire focuses on two reunited sisters who discover secrets from their mother’s past, with Nika playing one sibling with Nora-Jane Noone.

The film won the IWC Schaffhausen Filmmaker Bursary Award at the London BFI Film Festival, and Nika was posthumously honoured with the Lead Actress – Film award at the Irish Film & Television Academy (IFTA) Film & Drama Awards.

Following Danika’s death, Wildfire had its Irish premiere at Barry McGuigan Park in the Co Monaghan town of Clones, with the sportsman describing it as ‘a fitting tribute’ to his daughter.

He said: ‘Our hearts are broken that Nika is not here to see the success of her last performance but my family and I are comforted to see it on the big screen with our friends, family and the community in Clones.

‘It is a fitting tribute to her legacy and exceptional talent. My sincere thanks to Wildcard Distribution, the amazing volunteers in Clones Film Festival and the support of all in Monaghan County Council.’

Speaking to The Sunday World, director Cathy Brady said seeing Nika on the screen is ‘heartbreaking’ and ‘bittersweet’, as she dedicated the film to her.

‘She’s got this incredible performance and as a director when you get to see someone reveal themselves and put every ounce of themselves into it you go, ”That’s it, that’s it”.

‘I obviously had to take some time away from the film because it was just so painful editing and seeing her on screen. In many ways it was like a very long goodbye.’

Danika McGuigan passed away surrounded by her ‘devastated’ family after losing her battle with cancer aged 33 in 2019.

She struggled with her health from a young age, after being diagnosed with Leukaemia when she was just 11 years old. 

Speaking to Belfast Live in 2021, Barry admitted he will ‘never recover’ from losing a child but will try his best to ‘move on with life’.

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.’

On the fifth anniversary of her death, the boxing champion wrote on social media: ‘5 years today Nika, we miss you so much.’

Danika had starred in films including Philomena, Mammal and Wildlife and was known as Nika McGuigan in her professional work.

She attended Princess Anne‘s old school Benenden in Kent before completing a drama degree in Dublin.

A family statement at the time of her death read: ‘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.’

Danika was Barry’s only daughter, alongside her three brothers Shane, Jake and Blane, whom he shares with long term wife Sandra McGuigan.

Shane has followed in the footsteps of his father, becoming one of boxing’s most successful trainers.

Her mother, Sandra, has been married to her father Barry for more than thirty years.

Speaking of his daughter’s cancer diagnoses in 1997, he told The Sunday Times in 2005: ‘Finding out that Danika had leukaemia was like being hit with a sledgehammer.

‘There’s nothing worse than your child getting sick. No amount of fighting in the ring could have prepared me for it.’

After about a year and a half out of school, Danika returned to school – and in a heartbreaking conversation with her father – said she wouldn’t get sick again. She just got on with her life, Barry said.

He continued: ‘She found a love of drama and is now at acting school in Dublin. The word ‘dynamo’ doesn’t do her justice.

‘With Danika the glass is never half-empty and never half-full. It’s completely full. In fact, it’s probably spilling over.’

Barry has been privately dealing with the heartache for five years but spoke of the tragedy with his supportive campmates for the first time on the ITV show.

Fans dubbed the ’emotional’ moment the ‘most moving in I’m A Celeb history’ as all the campmates broke down in floods of tears while supporting Barry.

Barry told the camp: ‘[Danika] had leukaemia, when I was making the boxing 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.’ 

As he began to cry campmates gathered around with Danny Jones and Tulisa offering a hug, as Barry gushed: ‘Thank you, you’re all so lovely, I really appreciate it.’

Later going to tell Loose Women‘s Jane Moore about Danika’s second and final bout with cancer, he said: ‘She 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.’ 

Viewers wrote on X: ‘That was one of the most moving moments in the history of I’m a celeb. Such a likeable bunch – put them all in the final!!! #ImACeleb’.