ROBIN Windsor shared an emotional call with a friend in which he revealed he was ‘traumatised’ two weeks before his death, it emerged.
The Strictly star tragically died aged 44 and was found in a London hotel room, it has been reported.
A friend of the professional dancer claimed he rang them in the weeks leading up to his death.
On the call, Robin reportedly confided in his pal about being “traumatised” by an incident over New Year.
He also admitted he didn’t want to return home after finishing his performing stint on a cruise ship in South Africa.
The last public photo shared of the star showed him smiling with pals on board just weeks before his death.
Now, a source has told MailOnline they were left concerned after a phone call shortly before the tragedy.
“He kept saying that something had happened over New Year but he wouldn’t say what it was,” they claimed.
“He sounded absolutely traumatised – whatever had happened must have been truly awful.”
Robin told his friend: “I don’t want to come home. I want to stay for a few more days.”
It followed a string of cryptic posts on social media uploaded by the Strictly icon.
On January 4, Robin told his followers: “Big shout out and love to everyone who’s reached out and checked in the last week.
“Sorry I have not replied..it’s been a bit of a trying time and things are looking up. Robin.”
Weeks later he shared a quote from Dr Thema Bryant hinting that he had experienced trauma.
He never got over it. He was a really nice guy who absolutely loved Strictly and was heartbroken.”
Friend of Robin
It read: “Trauma teaches you to expect and accept the bare minimum.
“In this new season, may you adjust your standards and learn to receive the maximum.
“You are worthy. You are enough. You deserve overflow.”
Then on January 14 he penned: “Remember, when something goes wrong in the circus, they send in the clowns to distract the audience.
“Well, something has gone very wrong with this circus and the clowns are everywhere.”
In his final Instagram post last month, he shared a haunting picture of himself with the message “hiding in the shadows”.
Robin had previously been candid about his mental health struggle with depression.
When he was axed from Strictly in 2014 after a back operation, the dancer admitted it was the “worst thing” that could have happened to him.
In an interview last year he said: “I was always seen as a happy person, always with a big smile on my face.
“Now I realise that those with the biggest smiles sometimes can hide the biggest pain.”
He previously spoke about facing the harsh reality he would never perform on the BBC show again.
Robin explained: “I got a phone call saying ‘Thank you for all your hard work on the show.
“We won’t be needing you anymore’.
“And that was all I got.
“That hurt more than anything.
“It was heartbreaking.
“Being on Strictly was the best job in the world.
“I think I loved being on that show more than any other person that was there.”
Speaking to the My Time Capsule Podcast in 2022, he spoke more of the horror injury.
“We were trying some lifts and things at an afterparty,” he recalled.
“I fell at Blackpool and landed on a marble floor and I knocked one of my discs out in my back, and I went on a downward spiral.
“It was the worst thing ever.
“It was really, really tough to have to watch the show go on without you, but in my mind I was like: ‘Do you know, they’ll have me back next year, of course they will, they’ll have to’.”
Robin confessed it was hard to watch the show, and confided in his boyfriend at the time, X Factor star Marcus Collins.
The 44-year-old BBC star previously opened up about his exit from the show, before his tragic death.
Robin left Strictly in 2014, claiming bosses had axed him following a “horrible back operation”.
Speaking at the time, he said: “Leaving Strictly wasn’t my choice.
“I had a horrible back operation and they decided that they didn’t want to ask me back the next year.
“It was probably for health and safety reasons, in case something happened, but I was physically fit.”
Talking about when the horror injury happened, Robin explained he had “slipped a disc in [his] back”, adding that “the nerve was exposed, causing agonising pains shooting down [his] leg”.
He said: “I was paralysed on the floor of my friend’s house as the pain was so bad. I was there for three or four days.
“I couldn’t risk going ahead. It was a heartbreaking decision but I had no choice.
“If the slipped disc had popped out while I was dancing, I could have ended up with permanent nerve damage and been in a wheelchair.”
He told MailOnline: “Leaving Strictly wasn’t my choice. I had a horrible back operation and they decided that they didn’t want to ask me back the next year.
“It was probably for health and safety reasons, in case something happened, but I was physically fit. One of my best friends Trent Whiddon, who replaced me to dance with Pixie Lott, I wanted to watch and support him, but it broke my heart.
“I was with Marcus Collins from the X Factor, who was my partner at the time, and said to him, ‘I’m really struggling to watch the show.’
“He told me the best thing to do was to really get behind and support everybody. He said it was hard for him to watch the success of Little Mix, who beat him on X Factor.”
Meanwhile, another friend claimed: “He never got over it. He was a really nice guy who absolutely loved Strictly and was heartbroken.”
Former Strictly co-star Kristina Rihanoff wrote in her tribute: “Many of you, who went to see his farewell tour, know perfectly well that he spoke very openly about his mental health struggles.
“I’m sure it was devastating for anyone who loves Robin to hear that, but those thoughts were in his head for many years. Too much pain, too much disappointment, too much neglect.”
Amid his struggles with depression, for which he sought help with the Sane charity, Robin was also going through a heart-wrenching break-up.
He split with fiance Davide Cini in 2014, which was worsened by financial woes after leaving Strictly.
An ambassador for Sane, Robin also told how he suffered depression when he was 19-years-old.
Speaking to the charity, he said: “I didn’t really understand when I was 19 years old that I was suffering from depression at that time.
“And as I said, I was fuelling my life with as much as possible without drugs.
“Dancing is really what makes me happy and, without it in my life, I felt lost.
“Thankfully, I was given an opportunity to get back into it and had an incredible job travelling the world.”
He added: “Not really understanding what was going on I found that I was sad.
“And, I know we all have our dark days, but my dark days turned into dark weeks and I wouldn’t get out of bed.
“I didn’t really understand why I was feeling like that or how to get out of that state.”
