Strictly Come Dancing star Amber Davies has stepped back from her role in the UK tour of Legally Blonde after pulling out of a show mid-way through due to health issues.
The actor and ex Love Island star is playing Elle Woods in the musical, based on the 2001 Reese Witherspoon film, and started rehearsals after her stint on Strictly.
Davies’s busy schedule seems to have taken its toll, with the 29-year-old admitting that her body is “fighting for its life” after falling ill last month.
The performer took to her Instagram Stories on Wednesday (11 March) to update fans after being replaced midway through a performance of the musical.
According to videos online posted by those in the audience, Davies became unwell after the show’s third number, with understudy Hannah Lowther taking over the role. The Independent has contacted Davies and the Legally Blonde production for comment.
Posting on Instagram shortly after the show, Davies said that she’ll be taking time off to recover from a “lingering illness”.
“After talking to my DR, being on antibiotics and trying to recover whilst doing shows is getting me and my health NOWHERE,” she wrote.
@m.dels Get well soon Amber!! Hannah you were amazing🤩🤩 #fyp #legallyblondethemusical
♬ original sound - mils xo
“Been working on this lingering illness for a month now so I’ll be off again from my beautiful Elle Woods. This is the last thing I want but there’s no other way.
“I fear if I keep ‘pushing through’ I will be battling with this for longer than I need to be. I can’t wait to be back on stage and fell like me again!!!”
She followed up the post with another, writing: “Also I keep having to remind myself I went from Gatsby, to a last min Strictly, then to Elle so my body’s evidently fighting for its life.
“I also keep reminding myself that it’s ok to be poorly, we are human. Just a reminder there’s absolutely never a right time to be poorly in a musical theatre schedule so you must, for your own sanity, go with the flow!”
It’s been a week of extremes for the former reality star, who won the WhatsOnStage Award for Best Supporting Performer in a Musical on Tuesday (10 March). Davies took home the gong for her performance as Jordan Baker in The Great Gatsby at the London Coliseum, which she starred in last year.
Davies – who shot to fame on Love Island in 2017 before establishing a career in musical theatre – was a last-minute addition to Strictly Come Dancing last year after Dani Dyer fractured her ankle in rehearsals.
While she made it to the final with partner Nikita Kuzmin and was a runner-up, the musical star faced “nasty comments” from some viewers who felt she had an advantage due to her performing background.
Speaking about the backlash earlier this year, Davies said that the unkind comments “weren’t actually coming from the younger audience” but older people.
“I’m a woman. I am ambitious. And [people think] confidence comes across as being stuck-up. But if you’re too sweet, you’re fake, so you can’t do anything right.”
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