Cilla Black smiling
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Cilla Black’s cause of death following secret health battle: ‘Look at me, I’m a wreck’

Cilla was an icon

Cilla Black – who is the subject of a Channel 5 documentary tonight (Saturday, August 24) – died back in 2015 at the age of 72.

However, the Liverpool-born star had reportedly been fearing for her health for some time before her passing nine years ago…

Cilla Black laughing on Loose Women
Cilla died in 2015 (Credit: ITV)

Cilla Black and secret illness prior to her death

Following her death, a close pal of the star, Terry McCann, appeared on BBC News.

Speaking of Cilla, he admitted that he wasn’t surprised that she’d sadly passed away.

“I wasn’t surprised when I found out she had died. The last thing she said to me was she was going blind, she showed me her hands, she had arthritis. She willed herself to die. She said: ‘Bobby’s waiting for me’,” he revealed.

Cilla Black in a sparkly black dress smiling
Cilla as suffering from arthritis at the end, a pal revealed (Credit: CoverImages.com)

‘Look at me, I’m a wreck’

Terry then went on: “She just said: ‘Look at me, I’m a wreck.’ I was trying to cheer her up. She knew something we didn’t,” he then said.

He then added: “She knew she was going to die and she said she wasn’t going to linger.”

Two days before her death, a fan of the star had a brief interaction with her at Gatwick Airport.

“She looked amazing. She had her heels on and her hair and make-up done,” the fan told the Daily Record at the time.

Cilla Black and Christopher Biggins
Cilla and Christopher were close friends (Credit: SplashNews.com)

Christopher Biggins on final conversation with Cilla Black before her death

In 2015, Christopher Biggins, a close friend of the late star, revealed the final thing Cilla said to him, a week before she died.

“The last time we spoke was just a week before she died. We arranged to have lunch and she said we should go to Barbados over the winter,” he wrote in the MailOnline.

“We were also supposed to be doing a TV programme together in the Spring for Channel 5, driving around Spain to the places we loved,” he then continued.

“At the end of our calls I’d always say: ‘Love you, Cilla.’ She would reply: ‘Love you more, Biggins.’ That will always stay with me. Those words were the last ones she said to me.”

Read more: ‘Nervous’ Stephen Mulhern announces new ITV travel show with Ant and Dec

Cilla Black: The Queen of Saturday Night airs tonight (Saturday, August 24) at 6.05pm on Channel 5 and My5. 

Cilla Black slates Carol Vorderman and George Michael - Loose Women 24th September 2010

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Robert Emlyn Slater
Senior Writer

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