Former Pop Idol contestant Darius Danesh was tragically found dead in his US apartment, his heartbroken family announced on Tuesday. Aged just 41, the singer had a remarkable career after propelling to fame on the 2001 series of Pop Idol, placing third in the competition which was won by Will Young.
Darius went on to appear in Chicago as Billy Flynn in two runs of the production, as well as Guys And Dolls, Gone With The Wind and more in the West End. But the singer was not without his fair share of heartache and struggles.
Here we take a look at Darius’ life after Pop Idol - from becoming a step father aged 22 to divorce.
Divorce
Aged just 22, the TV star moved to the US and married Canadian actress Natasha Henstridge, becoming step-father to her two young sons. But their relationship was a turbulent one according to Darius, who said they were on and off throughout their courtship.
“That relationship was certainly not without its ups and downs. Over the course of 12 years we broke up many times and had a period of six months apart,” he previously told the Scottish Herald.
“It was often a long distance relationship for half of it. That in itself was an amazing experience, but a painful one. When you love someone you want to be with them.”
When they filed for divorce in 2013, Darius was devastated, according to Mirror Online. “I felt a great sense of loss with the divorce and I went through a grieving period. You see, you don’t break up with one person, you break up with three. And in some ways, it’s like a death,” he added.
Coma
Meanwhile, Darius suffered a health scare in 2017 when he collapsed into a near-fatal coma after accidentally drinking dirty water from the River Thames while shooting an advert for a charity water filter.
“I drank the water for the video and raised the funds but, when I went to Glasgow to see my mum for her birthday, I collapsed,” he told the same publication of his horror hospitalisation which happened because the filter he used was a dummy version.
“It turned out I had a cerebral oedema where your brain swells bigger than your skull. Dad saved my life. He got me to hospital. They diagnosed it quickly.”
He’d caught an inflammatory virus from the Thames, which left his immunity low, then picked up bacterial meningitis. His mum Avril, who was going through treatment at the time, kept a bedside vigil after he lapsed into a coma.
Darius added: “As I came out of the coma, I remember my mum sitting beside the bed. It felt upside down and wrong because my mum was going through cancer treatment.
“Yet she was next to me with tears in her eyes telling my brother that they almost lost me.” The star said: “My illness knocked me off my feet and I was bed-bound for three months and picked up a new respect for what my parents went through.”
Parents’ cancer battle
Meanwhile, the breakdown of his marriage wasn’t the only heartache the mid-Noughties had in store for the star. Ten years earlier his Iranian-born gastroenterologist father, Dr Booth Danesh, had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and given just three months to live.
In 2015, his Scottish GP mother, Avril Campbell Danesh, was diagnosed with breast cancer. But both went on to make miraculous recoveries, with chemotherapy and radiotherapy curing Dr Booth of stage 4 lymphoma that had spread to his bone marrow.
Avril underwent a gruelling course of chemotherapy and radiotherapy on top of surgery. Throughout his 20 year career, Darius had several name changes, reverting to his mum’s maiden name Campbell in honour of his grandfather in 2010, before switching back to Danesh.
Unusual friendships
In 2019, Darius was seen walking in Italy with Australian actress Rebel Wilson. Rebel 39, seemed happy and relaxed as she strolled with the ex Pop Idol star arm-in-arm. Darius may have met Rebel through his work as a producer in the States.
Big Work Commitments
Darius was big on charity ventures as well as his production work, and became an ambassador for the Prince’s Trust helping disadvantaged young people. In the past he helped to raise £300,000 for the charity.
As a West End star, Darius starred in Chicago, Guys and Dolls, Gone With The Wind, From Here to Eternity and was in Funny Girl alongside Sheridan Smith in 2016. He spent his time in Scotland and LA, and worked on Daniel Radcliffe terrorism thriller Imperium in 2016, and Tomorrow in 2018.
He produced a documentary called Fountain of Youth and was executive producer on the horror movie House Red in 2018.
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