Strictly Come Dancing’s Amy Dowden defiantly insisted she is proud of her body in an inspiring new interview.
The professional dancer, 34, made the candid confession on Wednesday’s episode of Lorraine, where she was joined by her dance partner JB Gill.
The Welsh ballroom dancer told the show’s host: ‘I’m proud of my body’ as she recounted her struggles with weight gain following her cancer treatment.
She said: ‘It’s a new normal, and I’ve got a new upper body because I have a hormone-fed cancer, I’ve been put into menopause.
‘And it’s just accepting, I put weight on, understandably, because I broke my foot, as you remember, there was the (chemotherapy), I put two stone on, but I’ve lost a bit.
Strictly Come Dancing’s Amy Dowden, 34, defiantly insisted she is proud of her body on Wednesday’s episode of Lorraine
The professional dancer made the candid confession while appearing with her her dance partner JB Gill (pictured)
The Welsh ballroom dancer told the show’s host: ‘I’m proud of my body’ as she recounted her struggles with weight gain following her cancer treatment
‘But you know what? It’s just my body, it got me through it. I’m proud. I’m proud of my body.’
Amy was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer in May 2023 and in what became the toughest year of her life, Amy underwent a mastectomy, chemotherapy, fertility treatment and was hospitalised with sepsis.
But she has now returned to the dancing competition after a mastectomy and chemotherapy left her with ‘no evidence of disease’ following tests.
However, her return has not been plain sailing and some fans of the hit BBC show have criticised her dance partner JB, 37.
Amy and the former JLS member addressed the backlash while chatting to Lorraine.
The singer described his experience so far as ‘fantastic from start to finish’ but acknowledged that some viewers have suggested he has a head start after performing as a member of JLS.
Tackling the criticism, JB explained that the only previous previous dance experience he had was dancing with JLS and was completely different to what he was learning now.
He said: ‘The only thing I can say was that the only dance I did before was the jive, but I don’t have any understanding of ballroom dancing apart from that.
Amy and the former JLS member also addressed backlash form fans who suggested that JB had previous dancing knowledge from his days in the boyband
The star has now returned to the dancing competition after a mastectomy and chemotherapy left her with ‘no evidence of disease’ following tests and took to the dancefloor on Saturday
Amy was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer in May 2023 and underwent a mastectomy, chemotherapy, fertility treatment and was hospitalised with sepsis
He added that the only dances he now knows are the jive and the cha cha, which he will be performing with his professional partner on Saturday.
Speaking to Lorraine, JB added that while performing with JLS the only dancing he did was ‘arm movements’.
Amy supported her partner and compared him to former bandmate Aston Merrygold, who didn’t make it to the final and had no dance experience.
The singer also revealed that he’s working hard on Strictly and described how ‘everything hurts’ after his intensive training, but he said he was working hard to impress the judges.
Asked who was the harsher judge out of the X Factor’s Simon Cowell or Craig Revel Horwood, JB jokingly replied that it was Craig.
He said: ‘They’re both on a par but if I had to chose one then Craig, because he had such a high standard for me even before we began, so I’m hoping we can get to the stage where he doesn’t have anything bad to say, but I’m not hopeful.’
