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”.
‘I was alone when I was told I had cancer – I sat there crying into my face mask’
Coronavirus restrictions in hospitals have left victims with no choice but to be given a diagnosis without family support
24 January 2021 • 5:00pm
Lindsey Roe says the strain of her cancer battle has been difficult on her children, Emily (6) and Claire (9)
Credit: Julian Simmonds/The Telegraph
Over the Easter weekend last year, Lindsey Roe discovered a lump in her breast. The country had been in lockdown for nearly three weeks. But for Roe, 35, the year was about to take another turn.
“I’ve had a benign tumour in the past so I check my breasts regularly,” says Roe. “I Googled it and was reassured – cancer is quite low down on the list. I decided to leave it, but it got bigger.”
‘I had to escape my controlling boyfriend during lockdown’
After enduring obsessive behaviour that left her feeling trapped and scared, Caroline , 32, left her abuser, James, 54, last November
23 January 2021 • 8:00am
Lockdown has seen a huge surge in cases of domestic abuse
Credit: Photo posed by models. Getty Images
I met James on a dating website in 2019. I was 30, and I’d been single for two years after breaking up with my fiancé. James was 52 and charming, confident, really romantic. He s a businessman and travels a lot with his job - Bahamas, Las Vegas - and would sometimes take me too. He s a businessman and travels a lot with his job and would sometimes take me too. He spoiled me.