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Former Strictly Come Dancing star Oti Mabuse has addressed her “toxic relationship” with her body after stepping back from the world of professional dance.
The two-time Glitterball champion, who made Strictly history by winning two consecutive seasons of the show in 2019 and 2020 with dance partners Kelvin Fletcher and Bill Bailey, left the BBC dance competition in 2022 after a seven-year stint.
The 34-year-old, who has since served as a judge on ITV’s Dancing on Ice and The Masked Dancer, told Prima magazine that she is still in the process of trying to challenge the attitudes around body image that she grew up with as a young dancer.
“Growing up, I always thought that the people who did the best [in dancing] were the thinnest, and you always felt like, ‘If I need to be successful, I need to look like that,’” she told the magazine.
“And I think it's not just Latin and ballroom dancers, it's across the board,” she added.
“All dancers, we always feel like that. And so we then have this very toxic relationship with our bodies, and even when you walk into the room, and if you've lost weight, they go, ‘Oh my gosh, she looks so good.’”
Mabuse explained that she is “trying to rebuild that relationship” with her body, and described the process as “a continuing journey” that she will have to navigate for the rest of her life.
“It will be every day, I guess, for the rest of my life, that I'll just have to work on that relationship, and hopefully by talking about it, it's going to create more of a conversation around the fact that we need to build our relationship with our bodies in a very healthy way,” she said.
“I'm now coming into the world as a human being who used to dance, not as a dancer. I still dance, but I'm a person first, before the dancer.”
The star, who took part in I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! last year, said that she also finds it helpful to remind herself that her body has naturally changed since becoming a mother.
“Yes, there are some moments where I feel, ‘Oh my gosh, I'm not happy with what I look like,’” she admitted. “And then I have to say to myself in the mirror, ‘No, you are good. You are perfect. You have had a baby, you've had a human being come out of you. It's OK to not look perfect, as long as you move, as long as you're trying to be healthy.’”
Mabuse and her husband Marius Iepure welcomed their first child, a baby girl, in November 2023.
The dancer also hinted that a Strictly comeback could be on the cards for the future, telling the magazine that “the doors are always open” and admitting that she’d been inspired by fellow pro Aljaž Škorjanec, who returned to the show last year after a few years away.
“Never say never,” she said. “The doors are always open, which is really, really nice. Aljaž went back and he’s doing really well.
“I went back to choreography with him and he’s just in a different space. He’s absolutely sensational. So, you never know.”
English (US) ·