Shirley Ballas has opened up about the impact vile sexual messages from trolls
Strictly Come Dancing star Shirley Ballas, 63, has opened up about receiving “sexually explicit” messages from trolls online.
The BBC star appeared in Olivia Attwood’s latest ITV2 documentary where she addressed the vile messages she’s subjected to.
Speaking on Olivia Attwood vs. The Trolls, Shirley said the distressing experience has “changed my life completely.”
Shirley told the former Love Island star: “These are some of the very sexual messages I get constantly from various people.”
Olivia read the graphic messages aloud before she described them as “abhorrent”.
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“Some of them are so nerve-racking that I can’t show you,” Shirley explained as she admitted she fears for her safety in public.
“I am not just talking about your phone,” the judge continued. “I am talking about being in public. You worry about those same strange people that write these kind of messages.
“Are they lurking in dark corners? Are they hiding behind walls when you go somewhere?”
Shirley added: “This whole experience has made me much more vigilant. I cannot say that I leave my front door unless I am on point. I never relax. It has changed my life completely I would say.”
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The former ballroom champion said she had contemplated leaving Strictly due to the horrid messages she’d been sent.
“It’s when it is personal about myself and my family and it affects my mental health,” she added.
“I have had people draw coffins with me in it with somebody with a spade that said, ‘Die you b***h’.”
Despite her struggles with the trolls, Shirley put on a brave face and dazzled Strictly Come Dancing fans during the launch show which aired on Saturday night.
Ahead of her performance to Praising You, Shirley told the cameras: “The audience is in for a real treat. My dance shoes are back out and it feels amazing. I’ve been put through my paces.
“But to be dancing with my fellow judges and the professional dancers is a feeling like no other.”
Olivia Attwood vs. The Trolls is available to watch on ITVX.
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