BBC Strictly Come Dancing's Shayne Ward's devastating family grief - and it's major impact

Strictly Come Dancing contestant Shayne Ward has experienced deep family heartbreak that he revealed when he was leaving his role in Coronation Street as Aiden Connor

Strictly's Shayne Ward drew upon his own personal, family tragedy when he played the final heartbreaking scenes as Aiden Connor in Coronation Street.

Shayne Ward is competing in this year's Strictly Come Dancing - a challenge he has previously said he's "buzzing" about. The star is no stranger to performing on stage and first rose to fame when he won the second series of the X Factor in 2005. His debut single That's My Goal reached number one in the UK charts in the same year.

Following his career in pop, Shayne, 39, turned to acting and in 2015 he landed a role as Aiden Connor, factory boss of underwear company Underworld. Aiden was the half brother of the business’ owner Carla Connor and he was brought in to help her run it. Shayne, who won National Television and Inside Soap Awards for the part, played Aiden for three years until the character was involved in a devastating storyline that saw him take his own life.

To help him act out the harrowing scenes leading up to Aiden’s death, Shayne carried out research with the Samaritans and CALM (The Campaign Against Living Miserably), but he also drew upon his own personal experience. Sadly members of his own family had tried taking their own life, with one tragically succeeding.

The actor was present at a media screening of Aiden’s final scenes and according to the MEN, he wept alongside producer Kate Oates as he watched the heartbreaking storyline played back for the first time. Afterwards he spoke to the audience about his own loss and grief and how he’d drawn upon it when playing Aiden.

"Some or all of you may have had some experience of knowing someone in your family or known a friend or hearing of someone that may have taken their own life," he said. "In my own personal experience I’ve had people in my family attempt and also someone unfortunately committed suicide."

He went on to explain why it was important for him to use his genuine emotions in the scenes. "So for me I just drew upon an honest truth of how would I feel in that situation," he said. "One thing I knew is that if I did it with honesty and truth then it will portray on the screen."

At the time of his departure it was generally assumed that Shayne had decided to leave the ITV soap of his own accord. Although he admitted he was sad to be leaving Weatherfield, he spoke about how his role had had a negative impact on his waistline after he gained three stone in weight.

"I will miss it when I leave but it's not done favours for the dad bod," he told The Sun. "The canteen has a really great menu but then it also has really naughty food. Put it this way it's your choice, but then if you eat from the naughty menu you've got to make sure you don't put weight on, which is what happened to me really," he said.

Although it was never confirmed or denied if Shayne had jumped ship, his other on screen sister Faye Brookes, who played Kate Connor for four years, spoke about his departure and hinted that it wasn’t his choice and he was actually sacked. "I still feel really sad about it, and I think he’s probably going to be upset about it until he goes," she said at the time before adding: "It’s a difficult thing to deal with, but I totally understand why they’ve done it. I’m absolutely devastated that he’s going, but I also realise you have to go with the changes."

If you need to talk to someone about anything mentioned in this article, the Samaritans are available 24 hours a day by calling 116 123.

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