Shirley Ballas says she was so envious of former Strictly judge Darcey Bussell’s figure, she would routinely starve herself.
The ballroom dancer, 60, said she put tremendous pressure on herself to lose weight after she joined the Strictly judging panel in 2017.
She added that Dame Darcey, 51, was nothing but kind to her, but she felt large in comparison.
Speaking to the Daily Star, Darcey shared: “I was going on with this most beautiful woman who I always admired, Darcey Bussell, and she was so slender and tall and so graceful.”
She went on to explain how she barely ate during her series with Darcey.
What did Shirley Ballas join Strictly?
And that after Darcey announced her departure in 2019, she felt a huge sense of relief.
Shirley continued: “To get super-thin as I did in 2017 on Strictly and drop down to a size 6, it was hard work.
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“It was almost not eating – I cannot and will not do that to myself again.”
She reiterated her struggles in a previous interview with the MailOnline.
Here she explained: “When I first went on Strictly I had a little phase at the beginning, you know, when I was sat next to this really beautiful lady, Darcey Bussell — this ballerina, this Snow White beauty — that I stopped eating until I looked at myself and realised I looked so gaunt.”
Shirley says her ex-husband made her feel terribly insecure
The Strictly head judge revealed that she had her breast implants last year.
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She said she had had them in a desperate attempt to stop her ex-husband, fellow dancer Corky Ballas, from having affairs.
Speaking to You magazine, she said that he had told her that her breast were too small.
She explained: “He’d say, ‘You’re too fat. What’s that mole on your chin? Your nose is crooked, you need a nose job. Your breasts are too small.’
“I had breast implants done to try to save my marriage.”
While she chose to have them removed over breast cancer fears.
Breast cancer runs in her family, and it is not as easily detected with breast implants.
Shortly after their removal, she told The Sun: “When I saw my little boobies, I thought, ‘There she is.’
Before adding: “They’re lovely. They’re all a bit swollen but I’m pleased with the breast lift he gave me. And now I’m in the process of learning to love myself after all those years.”
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