Dianne Buswell, a star of the television show Strictly Come Dancing, has disclosed that she came dangerously close to giving up her career while coping with the effects of an eating disorder.
Having previously competed on Dancing with the Stars in Australia, the professional dancer, who is now 34 years old, became a member of the BBC series in 2017.
When Dianne appeared on This Morning on Tuesday, she discussed the influence that her struggle with bulimia had on her life and how it affected her throughout her life.
‘I think when it starts to consume your life and you wake up in the morning and wonder what will I eat, what calories will be in it, and how much exercise will I need to do to burn it off, that’s when you realise it’s a problem…when you’re not thinking about anything else but that,’ she told hosts Josie Gibson and Craig Doyle.
When asked about the origin of her body image problems, she stated that she believed it was most likely due to the fact that she began her career in the dance industry at a young age.
‘I do believe it comes from when I was a young girl,’ she shared.
‘Growing up in the dance world you feel like you have to look a certain way
I also went on to dance in dance companies and had a weekly weigh in and that was terrifying.’
Despite her career taking off at the time, Dianne said she got to a point where she ‘didn’t want to dance anymore and didn’t want to go on stage’.
‘I wasn’t sure if my body could get through an hour show,’ she explained.
‘My energy went away and I had nothing to give on the dancefloor.
‘I kept telling myself to keep going but there was a breaking point where my body physically couldn’t do it anymore.’
In order to prevent themselves from gaining weight, people who suffer from bulimia, which is the common name for the eating disorder known as bulimia nervosa, engage in binge eating and have extreme purging episodes.
Dianne, who was born in Australia, started dancing when she was five years old and went on to compete in ballroom and Latin dance competitions at a young age, competing at the state, national, and international levels.
Prior to relocating to the United Kingdom, she was also a contestant on the Australian version of the dance competition So You Think You Can Dance. At the age of 21, she made her professional debut and joined the touring dance company Burn the Floor.
When Dianne was in her early 20s, she reported that she had been rushed to the hospital due to excessive exercise and skipping meals during the day. This occurred after she had been exercising excessively.
It was at that time that she admitted that bulimia had “put her career on the line,” stating that she had experienced extreme exhaustion and bouts of fatigue as a result of her condition.
In spite of this, she was on Strictly Come Dancing not long after she sought assistance.
Despite the fact that Dianne’s partner for the first season of the show was the Reverend Richard Coles, they were the second couple to be eliminated from the competition.
Joe Sugg, Dianne’s partner, for the sixteenth season of the show, which aired in 2018, and the two of them were ultimately named runners-up respectively.
They made the announcement shortly after that they were also dating, and the couple is still together to this day.
2019 marked Dianne’s return to the show for her third season, during which she competed alongside radio DJ Dev Gryphon. However, they were the third couple to pull out of the competition.
She was paired with Max George, the singer from The Wanted, for the 18th season of the competition in the year 2020; however, they were eliminated in third place.
As a result of her partner, the comedian and actor Robert Webb, withdrawing from the competition due to his poor health, she only competed for a total of three weeks the following year.
The previous year, she and her partner Bobby Brazier made it to the final, which was ultimately won by Ellie Leach and Vito Coppola. In 2022, she was paired with Tyler West, a presenter on radio and television, for series 20, and in 2022, she entered the competition with Bobby Brazier.
Strictly Come Dancing is streaming on BBC iPlayer. This Morning airs weekdays from 10am on ITV1.
BEAT
If you suspect you, a family member or friend has an eating disorder, contact Beat on 0808 801 0677 or at help@beateatingdisorders.org.uk, for information and advice on the best way to get appropriate treatment
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Source My Celebrity Life.
