Darius Danesh's ex-wife speaks out after he died after refusing operation

Darius Campbell Danesh'ex-wife has paid tribute to the late singer on the third anniversary of his death.

The former Pop Idol contestant died suddenly at the age of 41 in August 2022 after inhaling chloroethane - also known as ethyl chloride - at his Minnesota apartment.

Three years on from the tragedy, 50-year-old Canadian actress Natasha Henstridge - who filed for divorce from the Colourblind hitmaker in 2013, after just over two years of marriage - has admitted she still misses him dearly.

Alongside a series of pictures of Darius, including one of the couple posing in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, she penned 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 heart condition when he died.

READ MORE: Pop Idol stars now as Gareth Gates wins Celeb SAS - Corrie role, Eurovision, and tragic death

READ MORE: Darius Campbell Danesh died after refusing major operation because he wanted to save voice

Lauren Cheek explained that an autopsy revealed that his heart was "twice the size" it should have been and that she believes he used the recreational anaesthetic to alleviate the pain.

She told 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 went on to add that Darius - who shot to fame when he gave a memorable rendition of Britney Spears' hit '...Baby One More Time' on the ITV talent show Popstars before releasing a string of hit singles and eventually going on to star in the West End - had sustained his injuries whilst racing with Hollywood actor Gerard Butler and always "refused" when she urged him to see a doctor.

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.”

Refusing surgery

Darius was battling chronic pain in his neck as a result of two car accidents. The first occurred in Spain in 2010 when he suffered a broken neck. Speaking about the crash to HELLO! he previously told how he came just 'three millimetres from death'. The singer had been on a lads driving holiday at the time and was on the motorway in sweltering heat. "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 went on to say he remembered feeling a "sharp pain" in his neck before collapsing. Following the accident, Darius is said to have been offered an operation on his neck that could have proved life-changing, however, the singer and actor famously declined the procedure because there was a risk that it could impact his vocal chords.

His pain continued to get worse over the years and a second car accident in 2021 only made it worse. Instead of the operation, Darius is said to have treated the 'severe nerve pain' using marijuana, painkillers, and an anaesthetic drug, the latter of which tragically caused him to go into 'respiratory arrest'.