Darren Day has revealed that he split up with Anna Friel for Tracy Shaw in the late 1990s and earned himself a “love rat” reputation that led to him losing his fanbase
Darren Day has addressed splitting up with Anna Friel for Tracy Shaw in the late 1990s. The singer, 58, had been together with Brookside star Anna, 49, for three years but decided to call time on their relationship in 1997 so he could pursue things with Tracy, who at the time played hairdresser Maxine Peacock on Coronation Street.
He said: “I met Tracy Shaw, who at that point was doing Coronation Street. There was [a little bit of crossing over]. I’ll put my hands up to I’m not going to lie.
“We met at the press night, and I was very taken. There’s no doubt about it. I finished with Anna. Everyone was like ‘How dare you,’ but I’d already met Tracy.”
The former Celebrity Big Brother star added that his manager advised him to not get pictured with Tracy at the time for the sake of his image, but went on a date with her a few days later and everything was suddenly all over the papers.
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Explaining that he was worried about how he would even be able to go on stage that afternoon, he said on an appearance on Best’s Suddenly Single podcast: “Three days later, I went to the Hacienda in Manchester and I went with Tracy. And then the following week was when the Love Rat was born.”
He added: “I’m reading this and I am getting more and more devastated the more I’m reading. But I said to my security guy, ‘I’ve got to go on stage in two hours as Cliff Richard.’ My audience was housewives and teenage girls. None of them would like this.”
Darren, who was starring in Summer Holiday at the time, claimed that was the “beginning of the end” in various ways, and following the news, the box office “took a hit” and he began to lose his fanbase.
The West End star had a relationship with Tracy and he popped the question but it didn’t work out and they split shortly after their engagement in 1998.
He added: “Yeah, you get famous and it is probably the best aphrodisiac for the, you know, opposite sex or same sex or whatever might be…I noticed the difference like instantly. You didn’t have to chat anyone up anymore, you know. It just was it was there.”
Darren went on to have a relationship with Hear’Say singer Suzanne Shaw, with whom he has 21-year-old son Corey. In 2020, Darren became engaged to Sophie Ladds, writing on X at the time: “He wrote: “Spot the difference! My girl @SophieLadds & I just got engaged. She rocks my world“
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