Denise van Outen left Lorraine Kelly wincing as she came clean about a Strictly Come Dancing injury that left her needing to have her voice box cut out.
Former Big Breakfast host turned West End leading lady Denise was a contestant on the hit BBC ballroom show nearly a decade ago now but something viewers were never aware of was the extent of a rehearsal injury that left her needing spinal surgery when pro partner James Jordan dropped her on her head.
Denise and James made it all the way to the final that year, in the series won by Olympic gymnast Louis Smith but Strictly bosses and fans at home were kept in the dark about the horrific injury, with Denise telling James she 'didn't want to get James in trouble.'
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Broaching the subject as Denise appeared as a guest on her show, ITV presenter 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.”
Explaining how she battled on through the pain, Denise replied: "“I did have a fall and I was dropped on my head and my neck went. 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, who has also been a contestant on The Masked Singer and Dancing on Ice, then opened up on the extent of her injury, surgery and recovery time as she told Lorraine: "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.”
