Strictly star Dianne Buswell admits she 'wasn't well' before appearing on show
Dianne Buswell has admitted she “wasn’t well” when she worked as a dancer on cruise ships before finding fame on Strictly Come Dancing.
The pro dancer, who will appear on Celebrity MasterChef tonight, opened up about her health struggles with bulimia and revealed she would make herself sick in a bid to lose weight as she would have to step on the scales every week.
Her obsession with trying to achieve the perfect weight and figure even landed her in hospital after skipping meals and excessive exercise led to her developing anaemia, caused by a lack of iron in the body.
At one point the now healthy 34-year-old’s periods had stopped and she found it a struggle to climb the stairs. But it was her ending up in hospital that Dianne said led to a “turning point” in her life and it's one she “never wants to return to, ever.”
Opening up to ITV ’s Lorraine about her health, Dianne said: “I worked on a cruise ship for quite a while. It’s tricky, because as a dancer you get weighed. We got weighed every week and had a thing called a WW, which was a weight warning. I had two of them in my time and I weighed two more kilos that I do now.”
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Dianne says she took the body image thing to an 'unhealthy level' (Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)Explaining how it would affect her, the Strictly star continued: “I went through one point where I just wouldn’t eat, so I just had a drink for lunch and a drink for dinner. I got really sick and if I did have some food, I would make myself sick because I wouldn’t want it in me.
“I adore dancing, but I guess as I became more successful, the pressures also grew. That can really spiral you into this awful self-doubt and the pressure of that makes you do crazy things.”
Admitting she “definitely took the body image thing to an unhealthy level”, Dianne explained how she turned things around: “It had come to a point where I couldn’t go any further. There is still that slight voice in the back of my head – I don’t think it ever 100% goes away – but it’s how I deal with it now and that is much stronger, healthier and better for me.”
Dianne will appear on Celebrity MasterChef this week (BBC)The BBC star said she realised one of the ways she copes is by moving her body after discovering “how good it was for my mental health”. She added: “One thing I realised when I wasn’t well is how much movement made me happy. When that was taken away from me because my body wasn’t able to produce what I wanted, it really got me down.”
These days Dianne is happy and healthy and in a relationship with YouTuber Joe Sugg, who she met on Strictly when she was partnered with him back in 2018. The couple recently moved into a £3.5 million house together and are talking marriage and kids.
Hinting they would like to become parents one day, Dianne revealed in an Instagram Q&A with fans: "We love being aunt and uncle for our beautiful nieces and nephew for now, but yes one day we would love it."
For help and support on eating disorders contact Beat Eating Disorders on 0808 801 0677.
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