Amanda Abbington has revealed that a cancer scare made her quit Strictly Come Dancing last year.
The 50-year-old actress left the show for “personal reasons” in October 2023 and stopped taking part alongside professional partner Giovanni Pernice.
Abbington lodged complaints about Pernice and said the backlash led to “one of the worst years of her life” although she has “no regrets”.
The BBC has apologised this week and said it will uphold “some, but not all” of her complaints.
She accused Pernice of “inappropriate” behaviour and “bullying” as they trained for the show - but she has now said it was not the reason why she left.
Abbington told the Sun on Sunday: “'By my final week, on Thursday morning, I was in the shower and I found two lumps.
“I'd got the all-clear after a mammogram a couple of months before.”
She added that she told Pernice she would leave rehearsals to go to hospital and she then ultimately quit the show.
The lumps, she said, were found to be benign.
“It was the catalyst I'd been sort of waiting for, which is terrible. But that's what I was thinking, that it was a healthier option than being in that room.”
Pernice was cleared by a five-month BBC inquiry of the majority of allegations.
On the back of Abbington’s latest claims, a spokesman for Pernice accused her of spreading “false and defamatory claims”.
He said: “It’s disappointing that Ms Abbington would knowingly mislead the outcome of the report in order to further damage Giovanni’s reputation.
“While Ms Abbington may not like the outcome of the six month investigation, she should not seek to spread false and defamatory claims.”
In August, the Metropolitan Police confirmed they were investigating after they were called to the Park Theatre in Finsbury Park to an alleged death threat sent to Abbington, who was starring in When It Happens To You.
“I had a credible death threat sent to my place of work, a theatre that I was working at, which was credible and the police had to be called,” Abbington said.
Pernice is currently in Rome, where he is appearing on the Italian version of Strictly, Ballando con le Stelle.
His contract there is thought to be for one season, and he is set to return to the UK in 2025 for a major tour from January to July, sparking speculation that he may return to Strictly afterwards.
