Pop Idol star's ex-wife speaks out after singer died refusing operation

Darius Campbell Danesh's former wife has paid a heartfelt tribute to the late singer on the third anniversary of his death. The ex-Pop Idol star died unexpectedly at 41 in August 2022 after inhaling chloroethane - commonly referred to as ethyl chloride - at his Minnesota flat. Three years following the devastating loss, 50 year old Canadian actress Natasha Henstridge - who initiated divorce proceedings against the Colourblind performer in 2013, following just over two years of matrimony - has confessed she continues to miss him deeply. Sharing a collection of photographs featuring Darius, including one showing the pair posing before the Eiffel Tower in Paris, she wrote on Instagram on August 11: "Love and light always. Miss you today.... Sending love to the Danesh's and everyone whose life he touched."

According to his girlfriend Darius had been "living with a broken neck" and an undiagnosed cardiac condition at the time of his death, reports the Mirror. Darius' girlfriend Lauren Cheek previously disclosed that a post-mortem examination showed his heart was "twice the size" it ought to have been, and she suspects he used the recreational anaesthetic to ease his suffering. She informed The Sun on Sunday newspaper: "Darius was living with this heart condition that he didn't know he had. So many things could have taken him, but this one thing did, and he died in his sleep.

"His mum told me they only found out after they did the autopsy. His heart was twice the size it was supposed to be, which was fitting, because that is genuinely how he was - he had so much love.

"The autopsy also found he was living with a broken neck, but he refused to get help or complain about it. I think he used (chloroethane) because he was in so much pain and he didn't want to take pills, not even aspirin. That's what killed him - the substance mixed with his heart and he couldn't take it."

Lauren continued, revealing that Darius - who first caught the public's attention with his unforgettable performance of Britney Spears' hit '...Baby One More Time' on ITV's Popstars, before launching a successful solo career and eventually gracing the West End stage - had sustained his injuries while racing with Hollywood star Gerard Butler, and consistently "refused" her pleas for him to seek medical attention.

She added: "He was with Gerry (Butler) in Monaco for the Grand Prix and they slammed into a wall during a race with the Prince of Monaco. I don't think it ever fully healed and then he rebroke it because he got hit by a car in London a year or two before he died when he was riding a bike.

"And then he got into a car accident with his dad in Scotland. D was in the passenger seat, his dad was driving and someone drove into them.

"He was always in pain and I would beg him to see the doctor, but he refused. He was trying to find a natural remedy."

Darius was grappling with excruciating neck pain following two motor vehicle collisions. The initial incident happened in Spain during 2010 when he sustained a fractured neck.

Speaking to HELLO! about the crash, he previously revealed how he came within just "three millimetres from death".

The performer had been enjoying a lads' motoring holiday at the time and was travelling on the motorway in scorching temperatures.

"Because of the haze, we didn't see that there was a diesel spill on the road. Before we could work out what was going on, it was already too late," he explained.

"The car careered out of control on a bend, and we smashed into a wall at 70mph. My first recollection is my friend, the driver, asking if I was ok."

He continued by saying he recalled experiencing a "sharp pain" in his neck before collapsing.

After the crash, Darius is understood to have been offered surgery on his neck that could have proved life-altering, however, the performer and thespian famously refused the treatment because there was a danger that it might affect his vocal cords.

His agony continued to intensify over the years and a second motor accident in 2021 only exacerbated it.

Rather than the surgery, Darius is understood to have managed the "severe nerve pain" using cannabis, painkillers, and an anaesthetic drug, the latter of which tragically caused him to suffer "respiratory arrest".