Reality television star Holly Hagan has broken her silence in an emotional new interview, detailing the devastating final hours of her younger sister, Darci Rose. The 19-year-old died in October after an accidental drug overdose at a Manchester nightclub.
The Night That Changed Everything
Holly Hagan, 33, first shared the tragic news of her half-sister's death in an Instagram post in October 2025. She has now revealed to the Daily Mail the harrowing sequence of events that began when she woke in the middle of the night to find 130 missed calls on her phone. A frantic text message from her mother urged her to get to Manchester Royal Infirmary immediately.
Darci had fallen critically ill after taking crystal MDMA at Manchester's Warehouse Project nightclub. She suffered an accidental overdose and died just 48 hours later. Holly described the unimaginable scene that greeted her at the hospital.
A Scene of Unimaginable Horror
"I opened the curtain, and I have never seen anything like that in my life," Holly recounted. "I hope no parent or sibling ever has to see anything like that." She found Darci in a hospital bed, connected to tubes and wires, with blood coming from her mouth and nose. Her eyes had been taped shut.
The grieving mother's screams, Holly said, are "etched" into her mind forever. Darci had suffered two cardiac arrests after the overdose took effect. A subsequent brain scan delivered the devastating news that she was brain-dead. Doctors performed a series of tests, including stopping her oxygen for ten minutes to see if she would breathe independently. She did not.
"She died at 16:23," Holly stated bluntly. She explained that the finality of brain death, while horrific, offered a form of closure. "It was a better option than there being some signs of life and for her to come out of that in a way that wouldn't have been her," she said, acknowledging the difficult reality.
Final Acts of Love and Online Cruelty
In her final moments with Darci, Holly performed small, poignant acts of care. She went out in the middle of the night to buy her sister new pyjamas and asked hospital staff to brush Darci's hair, mindful of her £800 hair extensions. She even recorded the sound of Darci's heartbeat on her phone as the family said their goodbyes.
"My mam didn't know how to leave the room because she knew it was the last time she was going to see her," Holly said. "Eventually, I dragged her out." The family was then confronted with words like "morgue," a reality Holly described as "absolutely horrendous."
In the aftermath, Holly has agonised over not sending Darci a text before her night out. She has also faced vicious online comments claiming Darci "deserved" her fate for taking drugs. Holly, a pregnant mother-of-one, fiercely defended her sister, stating she "deserves compassion and empathy."
"She was a 19-year-old girl who made a mistake – and 90 per cent of the people in that club did the same thing and went home to their families the next day," Holly asserted. She noted Darci had never taken crystal MDMA before and likely wasn't aware of how much she had poured into her drink. Friends described Darci as sensible, someone who would typically only take a quarter of a pill at such events.
Holly suggested a tragic accident: "What happened is possibly the bigger rocks [of the drug] had gone into her drink, and it still looked like there was a lot left in the bag, but it was enough for it to be an overdose."
