Robin Windsor's ex-fiance reveals brutal injury which resulted in Strictly axe

Robin Windsor's life came crashing down after a devastating injury prevented his career from progressing. His ex-fiancé, Davide Cini, appeared on ITV's This Morning on Wednesday, just days after an inquest ruled that the Strictly Come Dancing stars' death was suicide. The dancer was found dead at the Hoxton Hotel in Shepherd's Bush, west London, on February 19, 2024, aged 44.

His blood alcohol level was twice the drink-drive limit, and he had taken the drug GBL. Speaking to hosts Alison Hammond and Dermot O'Leary, Davide, who got engaged to Robin in 2013, said he never struggled with anxiety until he was axed from Strictly.

After being one of the main professionals on the show, Robin's world came crashing down when he suffered an agonising injury during rehearsals that changed his career in 2015.

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“Sadly, during an after party in Blackpool, a specific show, they attempted a lift and he was dropped,” Davide told This Morning hosts Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary. He really hurt himself. And he had to pay for his own money privately to seek treatment. And that really affected him.”

Davide added: “His contract was never renewed after that.” Davide said he saw his partner struggle in the months that followed. "Until after he was no longer on the show, I had never seen Robin struggling with depression. I'd struggled in the past and he knew about it but he couldn't understand until later on in life when he started having these struggles himself. Things degraded along the years, unfortunately. He was struggling."

Davide said he wants Robin to be remembered for his "love and support" and for what he gave back to the LGBT community.

Speaking about how he and Robin met, Davide explained: "The first time [we met], it's so funny, I lived in Kennington and Robin walked past my apartment, I said to my housemate at the time,' Who's that really attractive man going past?', he was like 'You don't know him? That's Robin Windsor, from Strictly!'"

The pair connected on a dating app, with Davide making the first move, before their first date a week later. "We were inseparable," he said.

He went on to say that the Robin that fans saw was the real Robin. "He was so caring, so loving, if anyone was struggling, he'd be the first to show up," he said of Robin.

It was Emmerdale actress Lisa Riley who helped Robin and Davide's love blossom, having flown them both to New York for a romantic getaway in the "heart of New York". During the trip, Lisa arranged a helicopter trip for the trio, and hid the engagement rings, with Robin later proposing while they were flying over the Statue of Liberty.

"It was magical," he said. Despite the couple splitting in 2014, the pair remained friends. Davide said that things felt "too much" after discussions of selling the rights to what would have been their wedding.

But for friends and family of the late dancer, it was an emotional two years waiting for the inquest after Robin's death. Davide said: "It was a long journey to get here, we kind of knew what happened. Our family and close friends, but obviously, the inquest had to happen.

"That took two days but we're here now, it's all public now, how I am? It's emotional but it's also time for us to look ahead and remember Robin." Speaking of the inquest, Davide added: "I mean, it does [open old wounds], I think going on for two days is a very long time, I understand there were reasons it had to happen but unfortunately there are people in the LGBT community who passed away and didn't have the same two days inquery into their deaths, I think that's important."

Davide claimed that he never saw Robin struggling with depression and anxiety during his time on Strictly, something which he experienced later on in life, when he started struggling. "Things degraded along the way. I think it's important to remember that Robin was a gay man, in his 40s, who, like many of us, struggled in our community, and he was struggling."

After around two hours of deliberation, a 10-person jury determined that Windsor had taken his own life, concluding that the probable causes were "an accumulation of many attributes to depression". "Windsor suffered from childhood trauma; he was vulnerable to rejection, both emotionally and professionally," the jury forewoman told the court. The jury also agreed that "loneliness, the lack of emotional maturity, the pressure of mounting debts, the lack of consistent mental health care and support and recurring heartache" were "contributing factors" to the former BBC star's decision to end his life.

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