‘Love rat’ Darren Day reveals he dumped Anna Friel for Corrie star – and gave her £30k engagement ring meant for ex
DARREN Day has revealed his “love rat” antics and admitted he dumped Anna Friel for a Corrie star – and gave the ITV actress a £30K ring meant for his ex.
The singer and actor spoke openly about his romantic history in a new podcast and admitted there was a “crossover” between Brookside‘s Anna and Weatherfield alum Tracy Shaw.
Darren, 58, who began dating Anna in 1994, popped the question with a £30K ring but their relationship fell to pieces in 1997.
In a new chat with Best Magazine’s Suddenly Single podcast, he admitted the crossover between his lovers and said “Yes there was, I’ll put my hands up.
“I’m not going to lie”.
He told how he was “very taken” when he met Tracy, who played Corrie‘s Maxine Peacock, and to whom he would eventually propose with the same engagement ring.
Talking of their connection he said they met at the debut of his Cliff Richard stage show, Summer Holiday, and said: “We met at the press night, and I was very taken.
“There’s no doubt about it. I finished with Anna. Yeah.
“Three days later, I went to Manchester and I went with Tracy.
“And then the following week was when the Love Rat [headlines] was born”.
Despite popping the question to Tracy in March 1998, the pair spilt shortly after.
Though Darren admitted to the podcast that while he had always been a ladies man, fame had proven an aphrodisiac.
He said: “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 has had a famously tumultuous love life which has included six engagements – with the actor hailed as one of showbiz’s most notorious womanisers.
After his broken engagement with Tracy, Darren went on to date the likes of Isla Fisher, Adele Vellacot and Suzanne Shaw.
He became a grandfather earlier this year, with his 21-year-old son Corey welcoming his first child, a son named Colton.
He shares Corey with former Hear’Say singer Suzanne Shaw, whom he split from in 2005 following a whirlwind romance.
However, he has been with other half Sophie Ladds since 2017, getting engaged back in 2020.
