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Dragon’s Den star Hilary Devey has died at the age of 66, her agent has confirmed.
According to The Sun, the fan-favorite star of the hit show was staying at her holiday home in Morocco when she died on Saturday 11 June.
Her rep told the publication: “I can confirm that Hilary sadly passed away yesterday.
“She’s been ill for a long time.”
Hilary made her fortune in 1996 with the launch of the multi-award winning pallet distribution network, Pall-Ex.
However, she is best known for bursting onto our screens with a bang when she joined Dragon’s Den in 2011 following the departure of James Caan.
During her time on the show, she made several investments in companies focused on everything from children’s balance bikes to hair extensions to wheelbarrow accessories.
(Image: 2016 Karwai Tang)
She had previously performed on Secret Millionaire in 2008 and donated over £70,000 to the Back Door Music Project and the Syke Community Center in Rochdale.
In 2012, she announced she was leaving Dragon’s Den and announced that she had signed an exclusive two-year deal with Channel 4.
She was later replaced by entrepreneur and designer Kelly Hoppen.
During her time at Channel 4 she worked on shows such as The Intern and Running the Shop before joining the panel of ITV’s Loose Women in 2015.
However, she only worked on the ITV show for two months and left the show on 9 November 2015.
(Image: BBC)
(Image: REX)
Hilary grew up in Bolton and left school at the age of 16 to serve in the Women’s Royal Air Force.
During her service, she worked in air traffic control and utility accounting.
She later moved to London, where she started her own business.
Hilary has also been married and divorced three times in her life.
She first married Malcolm Sharples in 1976 when she was just 18 and divorced in 1978.
She later had a son named Mevlit with her longtime partner Hussein. However, they couldn’t marry when she found out he was already married to someone else, calling the relationship a “sham.”
She later married Ed Devey, whose name she took before marrying former pub boss Philip Childs in 2011.
Their marriage lasted only two years and ended in divorce in 2013.
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Hilary admitted that she wore her heart on her sleeve and, like her mother, was unlucky in love.
In 2012, Hilary revealed on BBC Radio 4 that a few years after her marriage, her mother discovered that her father already had a wife and four children.
That fate later extended to Hilary herself when she found out her ex-partner was also already married and had five children of her own.
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