Coronation Street Daniel Osbourne star Rob Mallard’s life – from co-star ex to devastating health condition
Daniel Osbourne is currently embroiled in the drama unfolding on Coronation Street.
Rob Mallard, the 32 year old actor who portrays Daniel, made his debut on the iconic cobbles in 2016 as Ken Barlow’s son and Adam Barlow’s uncle, a well-known womaniser. But this wasn’t Rob’s first stint on a soap, reports OK!.
Prior to joining Coronation Street, Rob portrayed Connor Jenson in Emmerdale back in September 2015. He joined the Corrie cast the following year and also appeared in Jack Whitehall’s Channel 4 comedy Fresh Meat.
Off-screen, Rob publicly announced he was gay during a 2017 interview with Gay Times, having disclosed his sexuality to his family when he was 17. He expressed that he “never planned to keep [his sexuality] quiet.”
After landing a role on Corrie, he began a romance with fellow actor Daniel Brocklebank, who portrays Billy Mayhew. The pair went public with their relationship when Rob scooped up a British Soap Award, where he gushed in his speech: “Even though this is fantastic, Dan, you’re the best thing I’ve ever taken home.”
But just a couple of months later, the duo called it quits, citing the strain of working and being together as the reason for their split. Rob moved on to Ben Perryman, but by 2019, they had parted ways.
In January 2020, Rob announced that their relationship had come to its “natural end” and it’s thought he stayed single throughout the lockdown period. Yet, it looks like love is back on the cards for the soap favourite. In June 2023, he seemed to go Instagram official with a new beau at the British Soap Awards.
Rob was all class in a sharp three-piece navy suit and cool shades, posing next to his chic plus-one. “British soap awards 2023 with @mattmarcm,” he wrote alongside the image, punctuated with a red heart emoji.
It was a triumphant evening for Coronation Street, bagging six trophies. Charlotte Jordan, who plays Daisy on the show, cheekily commented on the post: “You sexy b*****ds.”
Rob portrayed Connor Jenson in Emmerdale back in September 2015 (
ITV)
While they haven’t put a label on it, the pair have been spotted out and about on several occasions since then, including theatre visits.
Rob has bravely opened up about his ‘degenerative’ health condition to raise awareness. He was diagnosed with an essential tremor, a neurological disorder that causes involuntary shaking, at the age of 14 but didn’t grasp the severity until later in life.
“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… You assume with shaking it’s an old person’s thing and most older people do have a slight tremor,” Rob explained. “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.”
Now actively supporting the National Tremor Foundation, Rob went public with his condition following an incident on This Morning. Reflecting on a subsequent appearance on Morning Live, he recounted: “I went onto TV to talk about Coronation Street and got a massive rush of adrenaline from the live TV aspect of it and just started shaking.
“I had longer hair at the time too and I had a quiff and when I watched it back, all you could see was the hair shaking. Within minutes of me coming off, people on social media were speculating that I was drunk, that I was withdrawing from something, that I had an issue.
“Then I was in a position where I had been hiding this because I thought it was going to stop me doing work whereas now, because I have not been honest about it, the assumptions are getting even worse so I’ve got to make a choice here and I came back and said what it was. It’s an essential tremor, it’s more common than you think, people think it’s an older-people thing and I just found being honest about it has been the best policy.”