Denise Van Outen has detailed the horror back surgery she was forced to undergo after a shock fall when competing on Strictly Come Dancing.
The former EastEnders and Big Breakfast star, 47, appeared on ITV ’s Lorraine to discuss her new memoir, which details the grisly surgery, in which doctors were forced to remove Denise’s voice box in order to access her spine.
Sitting across from Denise in the ITV studio, host Lorraine Kelly said she had been aware of the fall with professional dancer James Jordan, but had no idea it was so “horrific”.
Lorraine said: “The operation they had to do on your back - they had to go in through your throat in order to get to your spine. It was awful.”
Denise said she kept the operation private because she loved the BBC ballroom dancing competition and also because she was concerned partner James could get into “trouble” for the incident.
“I did have a fall and I was dropped on my head and my neck went,” she said. “I slipped three discs in my spinal cord and I did the final of Strictly Come Dancing with steroid injections. I don’t know how I got through it.”
Denise added: “I had major surgery and they had to take my voice box out. They were worried I would never be able to sing again, because you can get hoarse voice after an operation like that.
“The rehabilitation was quite a long time, but I kept it very private just because as much as I’m out there and I talk about things, there are some things in my life that I do like to keep private. I wasn’t looking for public sympathy, I just wanted to heal on my own.”
Denise and Jordan finished as the runners-up in Strictly’s 2021 run, alongside Kimberley Walsh and Pasha Kovalev, behind winning couple Louis Smith and Flavia Cacace.
Denise concluded: “I’m fine now. I’ve got a small scar on my neck, so I get asked quite a lot on TV what the scar is from.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Denise talked further about her experience of being a victim of revenge porn at the age of 15.
The telly favourite, 47, says she was filmed by an older man without her knowledge while they had sex.
Denise made the devastating claim in her new autobiography A Bit Of Me and bravely decided to share the traumatic ordeal - which took place in the late 1980s - after seeing a similar incident involving two reality TV stars.
She said of the man in question - who she refers to as 'Mike' in the book, although that's not his real name - was questioned by police who found he had recorded dozens of girls.
Lorraine airs weekdays at 9am on ITV
