Shirley Ballas looks back: ‘I was crying about a breakup, so Mum smacked me round the face’

What happened

According to The Guardian’s source item, Shirley Ballas looks back: ‘I was crying about a breakup, so Mum smacked me round the face’, The Strictly judge and her mum on Shirley’s love of dance, being a single-parent family, and the joy of living together now Born in Wallasey (now Merseyside) in 1960, Shirley Ballas is one of the most decorated ballroom and Latin dancers in the world. She became a three-time winner of the British Professional Latin Championship (Open to the World), before retiring from competitive dancing in 1996 to become a teacher and adjudicator. In 2017, she joined the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing as a judge. She lives in London with her mother, Audrey, who has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Ballas supports the Breathe Equal campaign with Sanofi, to raise awareness of COPD and address stigma and inequalities in care. Continue reading…

Context

The development sits in VINI’s Culture file for readers following arts, entertainment, fashion, film, music, celebrity, and the business of culture. The original report is linked so readers can check the source account, follow later updates, and compare new coverage against the first published record. The source item is dated 2026-05-10T13:00:27+00:00.

What to watch

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Source

Primary source: Shirley Ballas looks back: ‘I was crying about a breakup, so Mum smacked me round the face’ via The Guardian. VINI cites and links the source; it does not reproduce the publisher’s full article text without rights clearance.