Michael Barrymore was at the height of his fame when a tragedy at this home saw him retreat from public life. 

The star saw his career collapse in 2001 when Stuart Lubbock, 31, was found dead in the swimming pool of his Essex mansion after Barrymore hosted a late-night party. 

Barrymore lost his job at ITV shortly afterwards in 2003, and he was rarely seen again until he appeared on Celebrity Big Brother in January 2006 – managing to finish in second place. 

Yet he was plagued by another scandal five years later admitted possessing cocaine that was found in his pocket after police approached his car. 

A charge of being drunk and disorderly was withdrawn at the hearing.

Now, however, it appears Barrymore is enjoying a newfound fame with a different audience – becoming an unlikely icon for Gen Z after building up an impressive TikTok following. 

The performer, 72, has amassed 3.1 million followers on the social media platform, where his bio reads: ‘This is a very happy place to be…’

Barrymore posts multiple videos per day and his followers often leave him messages of love and support. 

‘You really are living your best life right now and clearly loving it,’ wrote one admirer under his videos, ‘So happy for you.’ 

Another said: ‘You’ll always be the funniest man… we love you mister Barrymore, I wish you all the happiness in the world.’  

Barrymore repeatedly shares old clips from his television shows Kids Say The Funniest Things and Strike It Rich, which aired on ITV between 1998 and 2000 and from 1996 to 1999 respectively. 

He has also expressed his love of the video battle royale game Fortnite, beloved by the Gen Z crowd.  

In one of his most recent videos, Barrymore revealed he’s moving to Barcelona, Spain ‘to change his life for the better’.

The TV personality said he is already on the hunt for his ‘dream villa’ around the idyllic towns.

Captioning his post, he wrote: ‘Never be afraid to change your life for the better #michaelbarrymore #movingabroad’.

Explaining why he is deciding to move ship, Michael said: ‘Hey guys, yes I am moving to Barcelona. I’m 72 now and I realise that quality of life is more important to me than anything, so I’m going to Spain.

‘I love the place. It’s not the Spain that I grew up with, there’s all the package resorts that we all know, this is the mainland Spain, It’s amazing.

‘The culture there and the people and just the art and everything. I started looking around Girona and the Catalonia area for houses back in March.

‘I’ve flown out a couple of times already to look for places and see what I like. Once I decide which villa I like, I probably maybe around Lloret de Mar, of course I’m gonna take Dave with me and of course I’m going to take you guys with me.

So don’t worry, I’m going to vlog everything and you’re going to join me all the way through this entire story.

‘Until I find the villa of my dreams, I’m going to find out as much as I can about it, download Duolingo, learn the language. I can’t wait.’

Barrymore’s unlikely social media resurgence follows a series of career revival attempts that were often overshadowed by the ongoing investigation into the death of Stuart Lubbock, the 31-year-old found dead at Barrymore’s Essex mansion in the early hours of March 31, 2001.

Between that year and 2019, Barrymore and others were arrested and questioned on multiple occasions. 

No charges were ever filed and the star ultimately sued Essex Police for wrongful arrest, although he dropped his compensation claim of £2.4m after a court ruled he was due ‘nominal’ damages.

But the TV personality has been taking his career back into his own hands by building a loyal fan base on the social media app TikTok.

Barrymore posts multiple videos per day and has amassed 3 million followers, many of whom leave him messages of love and support.

He is no stranger to the stage, having performed sell-out shows before his career collapsed in 2001 when Lubbock, 31, was found dead.

Barrymore has always denied any knowledge of what happened.

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Source: USA Today