Darius Campbell Danesh was in an 'on-off' relationship with Claire Caudwell, the former partner of phones4U founder John Caudwell, as she pays tribute following his passing.
The former Pop Idol star was found dead in his Minnesota apartment last week aged 41, his family confirmed. Darius's close friends and fans across the world have spoken out and publicly mourned the star, and now his former flame has spoke of her heartbreak.
Claire, who was dating the Colourblind chart-topper from around 2018, has paid tribute to her 'love' Darius a she grieves her 'treasured friend'. The former beauty queen was left ‘heartbroken’ by the news of his death, and had no idea about him having any problems or personal issues.
“This post is done with the heaviest hearts right now as I’ve heard the news today as one of my most treasured friends has suddenly passed,” she penned alongside a picture of the singer on Instagram. “I’m beyond shocked and saddened and my love and deepest condolences go to his wonderful family. I’m sure my love, you’re singing to the angels. You were my angel. Darius my love,” she posted alongside a flurry of love heart emojis.
Claire began dating Scottish singer and theatre star around 2018, following on from his split from his Canadian actress wife Natasha Henstridge. Speaking to MailOnline, she said: "I am completely heartbroken and feel like I have lost one of my dearest friends. I loved him dearly and my heart goes out to his family, his wonderful parents and brothers."
According to the MailOnline, she first met him around 14 years earlier when he supported events for the Caudwell Children charity, founded by her former partner. It is also well-known that Darius was friends with her then partner John, he once famously visited his mother Beryl, singing songs at her bedside.
"We first met about 18-years-ago when he came out of Pop Idol and he was doing the celebrity circuit,” Claire told the Mail.
“He came to our Caudwell Children charity ball as a guest to support us back then. There were a couple of other charitable things we saw him at over the next couple of years. I didn’t see him after that for 10 years or more because he moved to America when he married Natasha. He was doing well there, and I never saw him.
"Then about four or five years ago, I was taking my mother to see the show Funny Girl which he was touring in.
"He came to my local theatre in Stoke-on-Trent. I saw on TV, probably Loose Women, that he was in the show, and I was already taking my mother. I thought, 'Oh, gosh', and it inspired me to contact him, to see if we could say 'hi' at the end of the show or something like that.
"I did manage to contact him, and he was delighted to hear from me, and said, 'Why don’t we have dinner before the show?', so we did with my mum, my sister and a couple of friends.
"We had an early dinner, and then he performed, and he came to see us again after the show, bringing flowers for my mum which was lovely. He was touring, so I didn’t see him for about a month more, but then we just went out for dinner again.
"I went to join him on a couple of the shows and then he went to LA, so I didn’t see him for a little while longer, but then I went over to LA. It was a bit hit and miss, and on off, although always with a friendship."
Claire released a string of personal photographs to the publication showing them enjoying time together, and even sharing a hot tub in the snow during a ski holiday in Vail, Colorado.
But she added: "Ultimately with his career, and me being at home with my son, it wasn’t ideal because I couldn’t be jumping around going all over the place. Summer was approaching, and obviously I was hoping to spend some time with him, but he had commitments all over the place.
"He was doing so much work, and I just decided it was best that we stayed friends. There was no drama or fall out. It just seemed to make sense, and we remained friends.
"I wanted to have a partner who could spend more time with me. We must have spent about 18 months together on or off. So ultimately we stopped seeing each other in a romantic way, but we remained fantastic friends."
Her relationship with Darius led to him forging a even closer friendship with her ex-partner Caudwell who described the singer after his death as 'a vibrant young man’ who was ‘amazingly kind and amazingly talented’.
Darius even flew back to the UK in April to sing what Caudwell described as a ‘a spine-tingling’ rendition of Hallelujah at the funeral of his mother after she died aged 98.
Claire said: "That was when we last spent time together. He came over especially for the funeral of John’s mum, but he stayed at my home for a few days." She insisted that he showed no sign of any personal problems during his visit, saying: "He was perfect and spot on. He was just the same him - absolutely perfect."
The revelation comes after Darius’ hit song Colourblind reached the top of the iTunes charts this week following his tragic death. Fans have branded it a “freaky coincidence” that the Pop Idol star’s song would reach the top spot once again two decades later.
“Number 1 in the UK charts 20 years ago today and back at number 1 in the iTunes Charts today! So so sad,” tweeted one fan who shared the news. “Seeing Darius at number one on iTunes is making me weirdly emotional,” said another fan.
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