Strictly’s Shirley Ballas has opened up about a dark period in her life when she felt like no one understood her
Shirley Ballas has opened up about a difficult period in her life when she had “no one to talk” to and felt no one “understood” what she was going through, until an important wake-up call came.
Strictly’s head judge appeared on This Morning to discuss how badly the menopause affected her. When asked how it impacted her, she said: “Terribly, and no one to talk about it with. Eventually, I talked to my son because I really felt in a dark place.
She added that her mother “sailed through the menopause” and that, back then, it wasn’t something you were supposed to talk about. As such, Shirley didn’t feel prepared for how hard it would be. She would’ve spoken to her mother more about it, but they were too far apart. “I got myself living in America, I was away from my mum at the time.”
Menopause is when monthly periods stop because hormone levels have dropped. The NHS estimates that it affects those aged 45-55, but it can start earlier. Sometimes, the menopause comes with no symptoms, but for many it can come with heightened anxiety, mental fog, hot flushes, sleeping difficulties and an irregular heartbeat.
Shirley said the menopause made her feel “really down and out”. This had an impact on her work as a dance teacher, as she felt like she was the only person who knew what she was going through. “No one seemed to understand me,” she said. “It affected my teaching. I’d go to work every day, I was little bit sharper with everyone.”
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Then came a crucial wake-up call that helped her get back on track. “A lovely young man called Wrangel took me to one side, he said, ‘I don’t know what is going on in you life, but this isn’t the teacher that we are used to.’
“And that was a wake-up call. And then I spoke to my son, he had a doctor, and then I did bioidentical hormones and my life changed forever.”
Bioidentical hormones are synthetically produced hormones sourced from plants. They are often prescribed to people with hormone imbalances as they are used by the body in the same manner as naturally produced hormones. They are accessible through the NHS and a doctor should always be consulted before medication is taken.
Cat Deely asked Shirley if the hormones were enough to pull her out of “that darkness”. Shirley replied: “Just to get my body balanced. So, my body was way unbalanced. And now I do that check once a year. I get my hormones checked just to make sure, even at 65, that everything is working and functioning, and so on.”
Shirley is back on screens as the head judge on Strictly Come Dancing. The show got off to a bang on Saturday (27 September) as all the couples took to the dancefloor, including Amber Davies and Nikita Kuzmin, who only had 24 hours to rehearse. The Love Islander winner stepped in after Dani Dyer had to pull out when she fractured her ankle.
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