Shirley Ballas is ready to start dating again and won't be compromising on the "careful requirements" she's laid out for any potential new partners.
The 65-year-old split from former boyfriend, Danny Taylor, 52, in 2024 after six years together. The couple met while appearing in pantomime and had been engaged for their last three years together.
Before moving into a new relationship, Shirley has shared that while she's ready to head back to the dating scene, there are certain traits a man must have before she's willing to give him her time.
"I am very careful, when I do go out with someone," she says. According to The Mirror, Shirley explains that as well as "humour," she also likes "somebody with some intellect."
"Generosity, too," she continues, adding, "I've always been that person that pays for everybody, so it's actually quite nice when they say, 'No, I've got this.'"
Elaborating on her requirements further, Shirley says she looks for, "Somebody who's smart, well-kept, takes care of themselves. I like that kind of guy."
She is also very keen to keep any future liaisons casual and not have her dating life put into a category of any kind.
"I may have had a date or two, I know my truth," she says, adding, "I know my authentic self, and if I want to go out on a date, I will go. Nothing serious. No labels, no tags."
With age comes experience, and Shirley has been able to reflect on things she might've done differently in her relationship with Danny. This has helped shape her relationship requirements for the future.
The dancer reports she and Danny "stopped growing" together, and that she spent some time "showering him with gifts," in the belief "that's how I should show him I loved him.
"We weren’t growing together anymore, and I was getting more and more worried about things that were going on in his life, and I already have a lot of things to worry about. I just needed some peace," she says.
While she's spent some time looking at what she wants in the future, Shirley has been living with and caring for her 88-year-old mother. She reports this arrangement to be "easier than living with a boyfriend."
"I could never, ever put her in a home," she told Saga magazine of her beloved mother, Audrey. She continues, "She was there for me from the beginning, and I shall be with her till the end – although she thinks she’ll outlive me."
Revealing a sweet anecdote about her mum from the days Strictly is airing, Shirley shares, "I walk in through the door after a show, and there she is in this little old pink dressing gown which has got to be as old as she is.
"I can see from her face she’s disagreed with my marks. Even though I’m 65, I can still feel like a young girl again."
