Strictly Come Dancing star Amy Dowden has revealed that a fellow professional dancer body shamed her when she was younger. The 32-year-old, who is originally from Caerphilly, has suffered from Crohn's disease since she was a child and regularly raises awareness for the condition. Amy was talking ahead of the release of her new podcast, Amy Dowden: Body Shaming and Me, which is now available on BBC Sounds.
"I have experienced body shaming. I take steroids and it makes me put on weight," Amy said in an interview with the BBC, before adding: "I'm taking eight steroids a day to keep me out of hospital. When people online say "she has thunder thighs", it hurts. I've been dancing since I was eight years old and dance is part of who I am - but so too is Crohn's, which I've had since I was 11.
"I can remember doing a dance competition when I was about 19 or 20, I'd been on a really high dose of steroids and it bloated me a lot - and my face changed, I called it the guinea pig face. My costume was really tight. It took me a lot to get on the dancefloor. I remember walking onto the floor and this professional dancer shouted out "she's got a fat bottom" and a "thick middle" - well, that's the polite way of saying it. That comment has stayed with me for the rest of my life and when I go on steroids, it's the first thing I hear," Amy recalled.
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The Welsh dancer, who has been on Strictly since 2017 and recently danced with EastEnders' James Bye, continued: "She didn't know what I'd been through and instead of dancing I just wanted to run off and cry. I got through the dance but that lady doesn't realise that line she said, I'm still talking about it now more than 10 years later." Despite the incident, Amy reiterated that dancing has been her "saviour" throughout her lengthy battle with Crohn's disease.
Encouraging people to stop "body-shaming", Amy explained: "When you have an invisible illness, we have to battle through so much on a day to day basis so we don't need any extra on top. Imagine you had a piece of wood and you've put nails in it. Even if you took the nails out, there's still a dent left in that piece of wood. Every time you say a nasty comment to somebody, you're leaving a dent inside of them."
Catch Amy next on the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special, which airs on BBC One at 5.10pm on Christmas Day. Amy's podcast, Body Shaming and Me, is now available to listen to on BBC Sounds. You can get more TV news and other story updates straight to your inbox by subscribing to our newsletters here.
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