Shirley Ballas: ‘I have decided to embrace every wrinkle’
The queen of Strictly talks to Peter Stanford about turning 60, removing her breast implants, her online classes and her mother’s cancer
26 January 2021 • 6:00am
Shirley Ballas was targeted by online trolls but says it was water off a duck’s back
Credit: Trevor Leighton/Camera Press
Turning 60 when you are a woman in the public eye can be tough, as Shirley Ballas knows all too well. She passed that milestone in September, just before the launch of the latest series of
Strictly Coming Dancing, during which one online troll remarked that her chest was looking “like a Seville orange that has been eaten by a thousand slugs”.
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“We’re sorry this is happening to you. Do you have somewhere to go? And is there anything that we can do for you?”
Last spring, Diana (not her real name) decided it was time to leave her emotionally abusive relationship of two years. She really wanted to talk about her next steps with someone impartial – but not on the phone.
“I’d made the leap in my head, but I couldn’t face anyone at that point,” Diana says. “I didn’t want to be the one doing any of the talking. So I logged on to the Refuge website to use their live chat service and get help while I basically hid behind my phone screen. I will never forget their first words to me.”