21 September 2023 , 21:37
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Bobby Davro has said his late fiancée's battle with cancer "cost him his career".
The former EastEnders star's partner Vicky Wright tragically passed away in May this year aged 63. She had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, which is difficult to spot until at an advanced stage, last year. Bobby has since shared his pride at how "strong" Vicky was amid her devastating diagnosis. The couple had been together for 12 years before he proposed in 2022.
Bobby shot to fame in the 1980s with his Saturday primetime telly shows including BOBBY Davro On The Box, and Bobby Davro's TV Weekly. He has gone on to star in EastEnders, Dancing On Ice and Celebrity Come Dine With Me as well as in pantomimes. In April, he had just finished a short Easter panto run in Rapunzel. However, Bobby has now shared that Vicky's cancer diagnosis cost him his on-stage acting career.
Bobby and Vicky were together for 12 years (Piers Allardyce/REX/Shutterstock)
Vicky died earlier this year after being diagnosed with cancer (Piers Allardyce/REX/Shutterstock)"It was very difficult, it cost me my pantomime career," he said on TalkTV. "I was late twice and I didn't miss one show and I worked probably better than I had ever worked before because I needed that, that's my medicine - making people laugh, getting out there and working. I need that, when I am not working it upsets me. It was painful for me not to receive the support from my work area, they didn't support me at all.
"In fact, I paid a price for it because I had to keep going backwards and forwards and she was in agony. Not one phone call did I get. They criticised me on a couple of things where I was late and got delayed because of this dreadfulness that was going on." Bobby added: "They all knew, but they never phoned up and asked how things were. That's the trouble with our industry, it is all about money. Showbusiness is a business."
Comedian Bobby Davro distraught as fiancée diagnosed with pancreatic cancer
Vicky's dad, Wolverhampton Wanderers and England footballer Billy Wright had also battled the disease, passing away in September 1994 aged 70, just months after his diagnosis. Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, Kelly Wright-Warhurst, Vicky's daughter, penned: "Hello everyone. Some incredibly devastating news to share as my wonderful mum Vicky has sadly passed away this morning. I wanted to use this platform to let you all know, as I know how much she valued all your love and support in so many ways."
Speaking to the Daily Star before Vicky's death, Bobby said: "To see someone as beautiful as her with this illness is horrific, it's so sad." He went on to explain that he has been able to keep himself preoccupied having thrown himself into work as part of a "distraction". "Thank goodness I've got my work because it keeps my mind off this for a bit of time. I don't want the fact I'm keeping working to sound selfish.
"Everyone who knows me knows it's just a distraction for a bit of time from trying to help Vicky. I need to see people laughing, and I like that I can still make people laugh while dealing with this." Appearing on Lorraine in July, Bobby told host Lorraine Kelly: "To see somebody suffer from that dreadful disease, it really took it out of me. You go through so many different feelings, it’s relief because they’re no longer suffering and then you have that sadness and then you have that anger, then guilt and then sadness – it’s just learning to live with it.
"You take each day as it comes and positivity! She had hope, she was strong – my girl, she really went for it and she had hope but sadly when it didn’t work that hope dissolved. Then you had the psychological effect and the anxiety and it was really tough. I was very proud of the way she fought it."