Shirley Ballas has opened up about her difficulties with body confidence.
The Strictly Come Dancing judge has revealed that she continues to struggle with negative thoughts about her appearance, particularly during each new season of the hit BBC show.
Speaking on Paul C Brunson’s We Need To Talk podcast, the 65-year-old admitted that she has previously had liposuction to fill out the cheeks in her face.
“I did that, lipo I had, which I'm so sorry I did now, because now I can see where they sucked out the muscle, and the skin is like crepe paper,” she confessed.
“If I'm bending over to put moisturiser on, I can see still where they took it all out. I had fat sucked out my arms, had fat sucked out my tummy and my bottom and then I had fat sucked out of here and stuck in my face - because somebody said I had a skeletal-like face, or like one of those dogs that has a really pointed face,” Shirley recalled.
“I've done vampire facelifts, I've had things sucked out, put in - you name it, I've done it, from yo-yo dieting to starving, to only eating porridge for six weeks,” she detailed, before adding: “To each lady who's listening, each to their own. Whatever makes you feel good about yourself.”
The dancing star also revealed that she still struggles with looking at her appearance.
“I don't like looking in mirrors. Even when I'm teaching every student that you will ever come across, I say to them, ‘Do not look in mirrors. Don't force me to look in the mirror. You must concentrate with your partner,’” she explained.
Shirley later confessed that her role on Strictly continues to affect her body confidence.
“I sometimes look at something and my friends say to me, ‘Oh, have it, don't you think you've deserved it?’ And then I think, well, what will I look like behind that desk? I sit next to Anton Du Beke, who's very slender,” she noted.
“I sit next to Motsi [Mabuse], who's a beautiful figure, and then Craig [Revel Horwood] on the end. I don't want to look like the old age pensioner with bingo wings. I'm a pensioner. I have a train pass. The bus pass. I get free medication. I'm a pensioner, typically,” Shirley added.