Coronation Street star Anne Kirkbride reportedly left just £104,000 in her will, despite the actress being said to be paid £270,000 a year to play the iconic Deirdre Barlow.
Anne passed away in January 2015 at the age of 60 after battling breast cancer after playing her famous role in Corrie from 1972 to 2014.
Anne also went onto posthumously receive the Outstanding Achievement Award at the 2015 British Soap Awards.
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In her will, Anne was said to have left £104,000 to her husband, David Beckett, which excludes property and assets shared with him as they automatically go under his name.
She met David, a fellow actor, on the set of Corrie when he played her boyfriend, handyman Dave.
(Image: PA)
The £104,000 made up Anne’s life savings which she left to her husband. The actress owned an estate of £186,651 which she reduced to £103,942 after debts.
Anne, who reportedly earned £270,000 a year playing Deirdre, had her will written up in 2011, four years before she passed away.
She had also drawn up a separate will covering her assets in Spain, where she and David had a holiday home.
The couple married in 1992, two years after they first met on set.
Anne said in 2012: “When David and I met there was an instant attraction, but I didn’t want to get involved with him. I tried to fight it. We both did.
(Image: ITV/Shutterstock)
“He was in a relationship and I didn’t want to screw anything up for him. I didn’t want to get involved with anybody who was unavailable.
“Once we had to do love scenes, it was different. You don’t have a choice. When you are fighting an attraction and you’re forced to do scenes like that, it’s inevitable.”
Anne was a heavy smoker throughout her life and diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 1993, but recovered after chemotherapy.
(Image: beverleycallard/Instagram, ITV/Granada Television)
She then secretly battled breast cancer in the autumn of 2014.
Her character Deirdre was famed for her throaty voice and huge glasses. Deirdre was married four times, had 13 lovers and got her daughter locked up for murder.
She married Ken Barlow, played by William Roache, on the day Prince Charles married Princess Diana in July 1981. She went on to have an extra-marital affair with Mike Baldwin in 1983 which was watched by millions of viewers.
(Image: REX/Shutterstock)
Deirdre was reunited with Ken in 1999 and married him for a second time in 2005, despite an affair with corner shop owner Dev Alahan.
The character was also wrongfully jailed for fraud in 1998, sparking a nationwide campaign called ‘Free the Weatherfield One’ , even prompting a mention from Tony Blair in the House of Commons.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
