Shirley Ballas has labelled her romantic pursuits a “disaster” following her break up with fiancé Danny Taylor.
The Strictly Come Dancing judge, who has tied the knot twice before, finds herself single at 64 after parting ways with her 51-year-old partner.
Shirley expressed her gratitude for the unwavering love and support she receives from mum Audrey and her son Mark Ballas. While on the Great Company podcast, Shirley divulged, “Currently, I’ve just split with my boyfriend.
“My relationships have been a disaster, all the way along the line. But what I am truly grateful for is that I still have my mother, and that she lives with me, and I get these precious moments with her.”
She regarded her mother as the lone constant in her life, eclipsing friends, marriages, everything, reports the Mirror. She continued, “You know, all I keep saying at the end of the day is I’m blessed to have had my son, and without the journey I took, I wouldn’t have him, and then I wouldn’t have my grandson.”
Considering life’s unpredictable nature, she noted, “So, it’s fate, if you want to, it’s directions that you choose.” Shirley also reminisced about her past engagements and marriages, mentioning her engagement to her first dance partner Nigel Tiffany at 16 and later marrying another ballroom dancer, Sammy Stopford, when she was just 18.
That marriage lasted four years before she tied the knot with Corky Ballas in 1985, with whom she shares her son Mark, only to separate in 2007.
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Reflecting positively on her past, Shirley mentioned, “I’m still friendly with Nigel, who was my first fiancé.”
“And then I ran off with Sammy Stopford, and we went right to the top in the dancing, and then I went to America, and I married Corky, 22 years, then I left. Then I’ve had a couple of boyfriends, and that all ended in disaster.
“Could I have made this marriage work? Should I have stayed here? Should I have done … shoulda, shoulda, shoulda, shoulda, shoulda?”
She admitted her tumultuous romantic history might stem from her unstable childhood, which was marred by her father abandoning her mum while Shirley was just a young girl.
Shirley disclosed: “I look back and I never had that example of that family environment. I’m not the most trusting person at all, and I think that all comes from childhood and the ups, the downs.
“It was really fending for yourself from that age and my dad never did anything. Not even bought me a pair of dance shoes. I think it just makes you a little bit hardened on the inside.”
She added, “Nigel was probably the right person at the wrong time. He was four years older than me. He was kind, caring. And maybe, just maybe, because I’d never had that in my life from a man – that fatherly thing – he kind of filled that void, that need for me.”
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