Inside Dani Harmer’s life – from hidden music career to Strictly trolls

She rose to fame when she took on the starring role in the CBBC children’s drama The Story of Tracy Beaker back in 2002.

Dani Harmer played shared the screen with her famous co-star Montanna Thompson who played her TV rival Justine in the fictional care home. The actor helped to raise awareness for children growing up in the foster system with the long-running series based off the 1991 Jacqueline Wilson novels.

Since then, the TV star has gone from strength to strength as an actress and a beloved social media star. But it hasn’t always been plain sailing for the TV star who has faced her fair share of struggles throughout her life.

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As the brunette beauty celebrates her 35th birthday with a bang, Daily Star has taken a deep dive inside her life.

Famous CBBC role

Before she landed her award-winning role, the youngster attended drama lessons from the age of five. Two years later she won a scholarship to Redroof Theatre School in Maidenhead.

The mum-of-two was just 12 years old when she landed the role of the fiery and funny hero, which swiftly catapulted her to fame. The former tearaway teen won over the nation with her heart of gold and quickly became known for her popular catchphrase ‘Bog off’.

The show ran for five series and came to an end in 2005, but she confessed that she sometimes wished she hadn’t landed the role. Speaking to The Independent in 2021, she confessed: “I went through a stage when I was younger where I was like, ‘I just don’t want to be Tracy Beaker anymore’.

“I get called Tracy all the time” but added that now she’s “totally used to it.” She admitted she now sees the role as “a kind of blessing”.

Dani added: “For me to be able to nurture this one character throughout different aspects of her life has been such a treat and it is really rare for an actor to be able to do that.”

In 2008, the star finally managed to branch out from Tracy Beaker’s shadow and played a version of herself in two BBC sitcoms. The first show, Dani’s House, followed the life of a teen actor stuck at home caring for her two younger siblings.

It’s spin-off series, Dani’s Castle, sees her character inherit an Irish castle from a long-lost aunt and get into a whole host of trouble.

Secret music career

Fans up and down the country will know the actor for her famous role as Tracy Beaker, but what fans may not know is that she also had secret music career behind the scenes. In 2008, Dani signed a £3million record deal as she started to make her dreams of becoming a pop star a reality.

But the actor struggled to get her music career off the ground, and has since confessed that her hits “slipped under the radar” after her debut album Superheroes was reportedly pulled after poor sales.

Speaking to The Independent, she recalled: “I recorded ‘Free’ which became the theme tune to Dani’s House and Universal wanted to turn me into a pop star – but it didn’t pan out. It was fine by me.

“I thought it was a bit of a strange idea. I was quite happy not to be a pop star – but it seemed like a fun thing to do at the time.”

Fat-shaming trolls

Four years later the doting mum appeared on Strictly Come Dancing where she was danced the night away with her professional dance partner Vincent Simone. The dancing duo maned it all the way up to the grand finals where she placed fourth after she was pipped to the post by Olympic gymnast Louis Smith and Flavia Cacace.

Years later, the TV star revealed that she was horrifically fat-shamed throughout her time on the BBC ballroom show. Speaking to the Radio Times in 2021, the actor confessed she was bombarded with nasty comments despite being a size six.

She told the publication: “I got so many messages, people telling me that I’m fat, that I’m overweight and I was like a size six at the time. So I was like, ‘Holy moly, if I’m fat, God knows what other people must be thinking if they’re bigger than me’, that must be just horrible.

“I can think of things really logically and be like, obviously, I’m not fat, that’s ridiculous. This person, obviously, is just bored or has something wrong with their life that they feel like this is the only way they can get some validation and I actually feel sorry for them.”

Dani has since said that she hope things have changed now with more and more people being open and honest about their mental health issues and tackling trolling online. She added: “I think we’re a bit more open about our mental health states now.

“People are being a bit more honest on their social media pages and using them a bit more responsibly. So hopefully we’re coming out the other side of it now.”

Doting mum

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One year after she wowed viewers with her impressive ballroom skills, the star landed the role as Janet in the 2013 UK tour of the stage production The Rocky Horror Show as well as appearing in various pantomimes. Dani, who reprised her role as the famous teen from The Dumping Ground, went on to reprise her role as Tracy in the 2021 series My Mum Tracy Beaker.

Stepping away from the stage, the TV star tied the knot to her doting husband Simon Brough in 2015. The happy couple went on to welcome two beautiful children together, a daughter named Avarie-Belle, seven, and her son Rowan, two.

But the star has since vowed that “being a mum comes first and my career is second” after she took a break from acting during the pandemic to homeschool her children. Looking back over her time as Tracy, the doting mum confessed: “I think Tracy and I are getting more similar as we get older.

“We are both fiercely protective of our children. We would do anything for them, but Tracy is way more ballsy.”

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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk