Sophie Ellis-Bextor has elaborated further about her Strictly Come Dancing experience, after making headlines with comments she made about her time on the show.
The Murder On The Dancefloor singer made it to the final of Strictly back in 2013, and while she has fond memories of her stint on the BBC dance show, she’s admitted she paid “quite a heavy price” for appearing on it.
In an extract from her forthcoming autobiography, Sophie revealed that her time on Strictly put a strain on her relationship with her husband, fellow musician Richard Jones, leading them to seek marriage counselling.
Speaking to Lorraine on Friday morning, Sophie was asked about her time on Strictly, admitting that the long periods of time she and Richard were apart led to their marital “wobble”.
“For us, the separation was the first thing to give us a wobble, we like doing things together and sharing experiences” Sophie explained.
“And actually Brendan [Cole, her professional partner] was brilliant. He said, ‘involve your friends, involve your family’, which I did, and whenever they could they’d come along to rehearsals and all that kind of stuff.
“But it’s a very intense experience, and for Richard, he did struggle with aspects of it, which, obviously, in turn made me struggle with aspects. But he did get counselling and support which allowed us both to enjoy it a lot more.”
Sophie added: “I think Strictly’s got so much about it that’s glorious and joyful, but I think if they just had a little bit of emotional support it would have definitely improved my experience. But I only speak for myself, obviously. And there are still a lot of happy memories for us.”
The BBC declined to comment when contacted by HuffPost UK.
Earlier this week, Brendan Cole admitted he was “heartbroken” to hear of the negative aspects of Sophie’s time on Strictly, revealing: ”She didn’t let on that anything that was going on behind closed doors, even though I had a great relationship with her, a very close relationship with her and Richard.
“I’m just so proud of Sophie for having the bravery to speak out like she did, and to Richard as well.”
Lorraine airs every weekday from 6am.