After winning two rounds of Strictly Come Dancing, Oti Mabuse’s next challenge is getting to wear the crown on I’m A Celebrity.
While many of us know about her on-screen talents, not many people know that Mabuse is married to a dancer who also appeared on Strictly, or that she has a one-year-old baby.
Who is Oti Mabuse married to?
Mabuse is married to Romanian dancer Marius Lepure.
A dancing trial in Germany brought the professional ballroom dancers together.
They have participated in multiple contests and taken home the gold at the German National Show Dancing Championships. They even made it to the World Latin Championships, which they finished second in.
On Mabuse's birthday in 2014, Lepure proposed, and the two were married that same year.
Lepure has also appeared as a back-up dancer for Strictly Come Dancing.
When did she have her daughter?
Mabuse had her daughter in November 2023.
The 34-year-old gave birth 10 weeks’ prematurely, in a “spontaneous, natural” labour and her daughter spent six weeks in neonatal intensive care.
Mabuse said she was encouraged that everything would be okay when their daughter was delivered at 28 weeks and weighed less than three pounds. She was unable to hold the baby for a week after her daughter was taken away for tests and put in an incubator.
The couple have chosen to keep her name private.
What has Oti Mabuse said about motherhood?
Mabuse has shared that motherhood is the “most beautiful thing”.
In her role as an ambassador for Pampers, she said: “You have this instinctive feeling that you really [want] to be a mother and you don't have a picture of what that feels like until that happens. But it's genuinely formed a perception for me of what motherhood is like.
“The first couple of months is like, 'How am I functioning on waking up every two hours.' And then it's learning [how to do] the first bath, the first nappy change, the feed.
“The idea that this human being and I are so connected and there are so many things that could go right, but so many things that could go wrong at the same time. When they say motherhood is a journey, it's the truth. It's constant and it's nonstop.
“Even now, she's teething [and] she's screaming at night. It's a lot, but it's the most beautiful thing.”
Why did she leave Strictly Come Dancing?
Mabuse announced in early 2022 that she was leaving Strictly Come Dancing after seven years.
The dancer told the All Change podcast she made the choice because she wanted to work on other projects that “put the fire in my belly”.
Since her exit, she has participated in panels on The Masked Dancer and, in 2022, she was added to the Dancing on Ice judging panel.
I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! airs on weekdays and Sunday at 9pm on ITV.
