Sophie Ellis Bextor looks back at her time on Strictly

Sophie Ellis Bextor reveals the ‘heavy price’ of starring on Strictly

The 42 year old married singer with three children admits Strictly could gave ruined her marriage

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Viewers call for a change to the Sunday results show

She has been on a difficult journey with her but there is love everywhere in her life and she says it’s never too late to start believing.

The Glitterball trophy is entertainment TV’s most coveted award – and stars queue up to dance their way to an equally glittering career on flagship TV show Strictly Come Dancing.

But as the new series gets underway, with all the sparkly trimmings, one celebrity has revealed that the well-documented ‘Curse of Strictly’ could have wrecked her marriage.

Singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor who was given Strictly advise from her son entertained the nation during lockdown with her ‘kitchen disco’, which featured the star covering famous songs and dancing in her stage costumes, accompanied by her small children.

It hasn’t always been a perfect home life, however, she has admitted in new memoir, Spinning Plates.

Sophie admitted that her husband Richard Jones sought counselling while she appeared in the show, and confessed she had to pay “quite a heavy price” for starring in Strictly Come Dancing after the show caused problems in her marriage.

Ellis-Bextor reached the final of the 2013 edition of the show alongside Brendan Cole, eventually finishing fourth overall, as model Abbey Clancy went on to win.

But while the audience at home and in the studio cheered her on, behind the scenes, she was struggling.

She said husband Jones “became unusually insistent on knowing where I was all the time”.

“If I didn’t reply to a text, he’d spiral,” she added.

“Supporting me in all that I do usually came so easily to him, but with Strictly I think he was just waiting for it to end… He’d message me all day when I was rehearsing, extra keen to know my schedule”, she went on.

Sophie Ellis-Bextor & Brendan Charleston to ‘Rock It For Me’ – Strictly Come Dancing – BBC One

“We would argue when I was home about how distracted I was and about whether I’d get through to the next week.
“He just felt as if I might slip into a new life that left our family behind.”

Ellis-Bextor adds, “I had no such desire, but was too spent at the end of the day to give the reassurance he needed. I think the only real reassurance could come with the show finishing.”

Ellis-Bextor, who has five children with Jones, said there was a “slight weirdness in forming a new ‘couple’ when you’re both two married strangers”.

“Why do they fetishise the ‘couples’ aspect so much? Dance partners, yes, but a couple has a different nod.”

She said Jones “began seeing a counsellor after I’d been in the show a month or so, and it really helped”.

“Perhaps I should have, too,” she said.

Strictly Come Dancing 2021 continues next Saturday 9th October 2021 on BBC One.

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Mohammad Mo: Senior TV Reporter

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