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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Entertainment
Jessica Sansome

ITV Coronation Street: Real life of Daniel Osbourne actor Rob Mallard - co-star ex, 'serious' health condition, and forgotten Emmerdale stint

His character is the son of a Coronation Street legend but off-screen, Rob Mallard has a very different life.

The actor is best known for playing Daniel Osbourne in the ITV soap - the son of street stalwart Ken Barlow and uncle of serial love rat Adam Barlow.

Rob made his debut on the cobbles as Ken's youngest son back in 2016, making him the third actor to take on the role. A year into portraying the character, the soap star bagged Best Newcomer at The British Soap Awards.

READ MORE: ITV Coronation Street's Brooke Vincent shares brutal comment on-screen sister Helen Flanagan once made

And Daniel has faced some drama on those cobbles from pushing father Ken down the stairs to recently being accused of grooming pupil Summer Spellman.

There was heartache too when Daniel lost his wife Sinead to cervical cancer and is now raising their son Bertie on his own.

But he now looks set to be part of an upcoming love triangle as current girlfriend Daisy Midgley was seen getting a dose of the green-eyed monster when former flame Nicky Wheatley returned to Weatherfield earlier this week.

Rob played Daniel in the ITV soap (ITV)

As for his own romantic life, Rob publicly came out as gay during an interview with Gay Times back in 2017 but he told his family at the age of 17 and "never planned to keep [his sexuality] quiet."

Shortly after joining Corrie, Rob began dating co-star Daniel Brocklebank, who plays vicar Billy Mayhew, and they confirmed their romance when he won his British Soap Award,

He said in his acceptance speech: "Even though this is fantastic, Dan, you’re the best thing I’ve ever taken home."

But just two months later, the pair split with sources citing the reason as being the pressure of working together while maintaining a romantic relationship.

Rob went on to date Ben Perryman, but the couple split in 2019, confirming in January 2020 that things had reached their "natural end" and he is believed to have remained single during the country's lockdown.

The soap star, 29, has also recently spoken about his 'serious' health condition that is often misunderstood.

Rob once dated co-star Daniel Brocklebank (Getty Images)

Rob has an essential tremor - a nervous system (neurological) disorder that causes involuntary and rhythmic shaking which can affect almost any part of your body, but mostly occurs in the hands.

Speaking earlier this week on This Morning during tremor awareness month, Rob explained: "I was diagnosed with an essential tremor when I was 14 but I didn't quite realise how serious it was until I was in my mid-20's."

He went on: "You assume with shaking it's an old person's thing and most older people do have a slight tremor," Rob said. "But it's actually amazingly common in young people and it's often misdiagnosed as anxiety disorders or people on the street might think something bad.

"They might think that you are on a comedown or that you're withdrawing from something or anything when it actually is just brain chemistry - just something going wrong, neurons in the brain firing incorrectly and it cause involuntary shaking in certain parts of the body."

Rob spoke about his tremor on This Morning (ITV)

Rob's tremor was mentioned on the ITV daytime show years after an appearance on the programme which saw him talk about his condition in public for the first time. It came two months after he appeared on the show and viewers spotted his shaking.

At the time, he tweeted: "Before any other papers write about this 'news' let me disabuse you: I have an essential tremor. Phew! Feels so good to come out.#notawkward."

Reappearing on the programme, Rob said he felt 'exposed' after his tremor was being questioned among viewers.

He said: "I've had this – it's been nearly ten years I've been aware of it now. My solution to this was to hide and manage it, because in the job that I'm in, it may have a detrimental effect on my ability to get cast. So it was something that I tried to keep a lid on, but then it was exposed live on TV."

Rob when he first joined Corrie with the rest of the Barlow family (Joseph Scanlon)

Speaking about the long-term effect of the tremor, Rob said at the time: "By the time I'm 50, it could be in the voice box, down the spine, the arms. It could be quite debilitating."

Away from his private life, fans may think Rob has only appeared in Corrie. But they'd be wrong.

The Manchester actor confused fans when he shared a snap from his time on another soap. He shared the black and white, bloodied selfie in a rare post to his thousands of followers.

It showed his long locks were bouncing around in an edgier, Elvis-inspired style while donning a leather jacket but his face looked a bit battered and bruised with cuts to his nose and lips.

Rob as Connor in Emmerdale (ITV)

It was taken when Rob was playing Connor Jenson in Emmerdale. He appeared in the Dales as Connor back in September 2015 when Rober Sugden hired the rent-boy to lure his father-in-law Lawrence White to bed.

He attempted to do so by painting his face with fake wounds and convinced Lawrence to take him to his home to help him. But when Connor made a move on Robert's estranged father-in-law, he was rejected and turned nasty, beating Lawrence up before robbing his belongings and fleeing the village.

The following year Rob joined Corrie in the role of Daniel, and he even appeared in Jack Whitehall's Channel 4 comedy Fresh Meat.

READ MORE: Devastated bride-to-be finds out her dream wedding is cancelled after logging onto Facebook

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