Coronation St star Bill Roache reveals how he got over his daughter's death in a week

Coronation Street's Bill Roache has revealed how his spiritual beliefs helped him overcome his grief at the death of his daughter Vanya, 50, earlier this year.

Speaking to Spirit & Destiny magazine's Kate Delamere, the soap veteran, 86, revealed why he'd returned to the set just 10 days after his eldest daughter died from liver failure.

'Of course, for the first few days after her death it was natural to grieve,' he explained. 'But within a week I got over it because I know she's in a beautiful place reunited with other loved ones

He added: 'After the death of the physical body, the soul returns to heaven, which is our eternal home.

'Vanya has gone to a far better, happier place and I don't need to grieve for her.

"If I grieve it's because I miss her and that's negative and where she is she'll pick up on that so I send her my love.

Vanya, 50, who lived in Tangmere near Chichester, West Sussex died suddenly after she suffered organ failure caused by a blood disorder in March this year.

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Her father was said to be 'utterly heartbroken' and was granted compassionate leave from Coronation Street. 

It was the third major loss to hit the small screen legend following the death of his second wife Sara Mottram, 58, who passed away suddenly in 2009.

The couple had been hit by tragedy in 1983 when their daughter Edwina died from bronchial pneumonia, aged 18 months.

Vanya, his eldest daughter from his marriage to his first wife Anna Cropper, had rekindled her relationship with her father in recent years after falling out out when his marriage to her mother broke down because of his infidelity.

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In 1999, Bill was declared bankrupt and Vanya, then 32, was interviewed by the Sunday Mirror about her father's financial woes, which arouse from a libel case against The Sun.

Vanya explained that she hadn't spoken to her father for 20 years after he'd'walked out on the family'.

She said: 'I don't feel sorry for him at all about this bankruptcy business after he walked out on us. I'm sure as ever he'll manage to land on his feet again and be OK

Father and daughter were eventually reconciled and Vanya supported the star when he was tried for rape and sex abuse charges in 2014.

'My beautiful family, wonderful father and a very happy and truthful day,' she wrote on Facebook after his acquittal.

Bill is a Reiki healer who has practiced meditation for decades and has been open about how his spiritual beliefs have helped him through difficult times. 

And he recently revealed his belief that he can will his body to live into the hundreds. 

'Ageing is a belief system,' he said. 'The body is designed to go on as long as you want to be in it.'

'Therefore I am getting younger, healthier and rejuvenated. So to go on to 100 is nothing. For me, though, 107 or 108 feels about right. So that's how long I will live.'

This article was first published on dailymail.co.uk and is reproduced here with permission.