Bobby Davro says beloved fiancée Vicky Wright's cancer battle 'cost him his panto career'
Former EastEnders star Bobby Davro has said his late fiancée Vicky Wright's battle with cancer "cost him his career" in pantomime.
Vicky Wright, daughter of the late Wolves legend Billy Wright, tragically died in May aged 63 following a battle with pancreatic cancer.
Her father, Wolves and England footballer Billy, battled the same disease and died in 1994 at the age of 70.
Bobby and Vicky had been together for 12 years before he proposed in 2022. The actor has spoken of his pride in Vicky, and how "strong" she was amid her devastating diagnosis.
Although he has had a lucrative career, from his Saturday primetime telly shows, EastEnders, Dancing On Ice and Celebrity Come Dine With Me as well as on stage in pantomimes, Bobby has said that his late fiancée's cancer diagnosis cost him his on-stage acting career.
He said on TalkTV: "It was very difficult, it cost me my pantomime career.
"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.
"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."
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 added that his work helped as a "distraction".
"Thank goodness I've got my work because it keeps my mind off this for a bit of time," he said. "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 the 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."
