Andy Whyment was always destined for stardom, according to his parents.
The Corrie actor, 38, has two star-shaped scars on his chest from having surgery for a collapsed lung shorty after birth.
Andy is the bookies’ favourite to win the ITV show, and it seems the odds have always been in his favour.
His mum, Jackie, said: “He had problems at birth and had to have two tubes put in his chest whilst on a ventilator.
"They left scars in the shape of two stars. Fred [his dad] said he was going to be a star.
"We were advised to get a priest, but he fought. We knew then he was here for a purpose. He was in the special care unit for six weeks.”
Andy, born in Salford in 1981, was expected to have issues growing up, but “developed very fast”.
After his brush with death, Andy, right – who has Thomas, 11, and Hollie, nine, with wife Nichola – now helps out children’s charities.
And the star, who plays Kirk Sutherland, said: “They read me the last rites. They didn’t think I was going to live. If I’d been born ten years earlier I wouldn’t have stood a chance because they wouldn’t have had the medical equipment.”
Speaking to the Coronation Street fan page, his dad, Fred, told how the actor showed his talent from a young age.
He said: “When he was at nursery and infants he stood out in school plays – you could hear him singing above everyone else.”
