There’s nothing glamorous about my lifelong gut issues
Shirley Ballas talks frankly to Lizzie Catt about how she’s finally conquered her gut problems
As Strictly Come Dancing’s head judge, Shirley Ballas isn’t afraid to give candid opinions. It’s an approach she also applies when talking about herself. Shirley, 63, is on a mission to share all the tips and tricks she’s learned to manage lifelong problems with gut health, with no subject off the table.
In a chat over Zoom, she’s warm, funny, and extremely frank – much to the amused horror of her mum Audrey, 86, listening in the background while cooking a stew.
“I won’t turn my camera on because I’m in my rollers,” says Shirley, before diving into the hereditary cause of her long-standing gut health problems.
“My mum told me that my father suffered with piles, had an operation and sat on a rubber ring for six weeks, so I think I got my long-standing constipation from him.
“My mum’s here now and she’s laughing. ‘Nothing’s sacred’ she’s saying! I know when I finish the call, she’s going to say, ‘How can you share about your haemorrhoids?’”
The pair are incredibly close. Audrey raised Shirley and her brother David on a housing estate in Wallasey, Merseyside, becoming a single mother after husband George – known as Andy – left home when Shirley was two, with father and daughter only properly reconnecting after David tragically took his own life in 2013, aged 44. They remained in touch until Andy died two years ago.
While Shirley travelled the world with her dance career, Audrey played a big part in taking care of Shirley’s son Mark, now 37, and in 2021, Audrey moved down south and into Shirley’s home in Dulwich, South London.
“My mum and I have always been different, she couldn’t ask anybody for anything and nor would she share anything. Sometimes I wonder if I came out of her womb because I’m completely the opposite.”
But, after decades of gut problems, Shirley is keen to tell the world what works for her – no matter how horrified Audrey is.
“Constipation is something I’ve suffered with since I was a kid, even as a dancer,” she says. “When I was competing, it was only when I got super nervous did I find I was able to go.
“The pains and gas you can learn to live with, but when you get haemorrhoids, that’s a different story. As a dancer, it’s difficult to carry on. My mum used to just say, ‘Oh don’t worry, your dad had the operation – he’d sit in warm baths and use Vaseline’, all those things that people do with haemorrhoids.” While family members with similar issues took daily laxatives, Shirley says: “I didn’t want to do that.
That’s all the information I got when I was struggling with piles and constipation though. Mum’s laughing at me again because I’m telling you the truth. She’s old school, but it’s good for people to talk about these things. You can buy medications in every supermarket yet you’re sneaking it under your carrots and your spinach so nobody can see. People don’t like to talk about it for sure.
“There’s nothing glamorous about a haemorrhoid, girls!”
When Shirley spotted social media posts about gut health supplement Symprove, she decided to give it a whirl.
“In less than six weeks, it regulated my system. I didn’t seem to be as bloated or gassy. I didn’t have the same pains in my tummy. The heartburn had gone.
‘‘ It’s difficult to carry on with haemorrhoids when you’re a dancer
I can honestly say I haven’t had a haemorrhoid since, so lucky me!
“It’s water-based, so I feel quite safe taking it and the supplement is packed full of live active bacteria and helps you maintain a healthy and happy gut. That’s what I’m after.”
Using the improvements as a foundation, she made a concerted effort to stick to other habits to improve her physical wellbeing, mental health and energy levels.
“I don’t think it’s one particular thing. Once my tummy was starting to feel better I thought, OK, if I get myself on a ‘me plan’, and not always
a plan for somebody else, then I’ll be running at top notch, I can be there for more people who need help.
“Hydration is key, but can be difficult when you’re travelling because you’d have to pee every two minutes. I’ve also started to have a couple of colonics each year and that’s also helped clean the gut.” Shirley also prioritises rest after a lifelong battle with insomnia. “I don’t really know why it is, maybe I go to bed too late. Now I aim to go to bed before 10.30pm and switch off all devices. “Meditation’s been helpful – mum and I have this app that sounds like you’re at the beach and it’s raining. Sometimes we sleep together, my mum’s not a great rester either and the app helps. “I try not to beat myself up if I take a 20-minute nap in the afternoon, which I’ve never done in my entire life, but I’m trying to. Half an hour is better than nothing. Sometimes I’ll have a snuggle with my mum – we put Vera on the telly, have a little snuggle and fall asleep.” She’s also turned to tech. “I’ve got myself an Apple Watch. It tracks you on the treadmill, doing yoga, it manages your step count, tells you what time to go to bed, then it pings in the morning to tell you how much sleep you’ve had and how deep your sleep was. For my lifestyle, it’s been amazing.”
She describes herself as “hooked” on doing 10,000 steps a day.
“I was recently in Rome, I was trying to go to the gym but one day I’d only done 3,000 steps. Being competitive with myself, I stayed up for two hours dancing around the lobby and got to 11,600 steps. My friends thought I was crackers.”
A trip to the gym means 50 to 60 minutes on the treadmill to reach her step count, as well as Peloton cycling and hot yoga four times a week. If the routine goes out of whack, she says: “I will have 30 minutes dancing around my house building up a sweat.”
Also a big fan of juicing, Shirley creates her own concoctions and attends Juicy Oasis retreats run by celebrity ‘Juice Master’ Jason Vale each year for juice, exercise, yoga, massage and colonics.
“When you come back from that you feel like you can conquer the world,” she laughs.
Audrey’s less keen. “Mum’s not a green juice person. I like salads, mum’s more meat and potatoes.”
Shirley watches what she eats and follows intermittent fasting with 16 hours off, eight on – sometimes six. “We don’t overeat. I learned from my mother, the stomach doesn’t need a lot of food, just the right nutrients. I only eat if I’m hungry.”
After considering quitting Strictly due to trolling in 2022, Shirley decided instead to take on a personal assistant, Harry, to help run her schedule and filter out any social media unpleasantness.
She’s already received mean comments about the yellow feathery number she wore on the first show, but seems unbothered.
“I’m anticipating a real easy flow on Strictly this year. I’m in a good place for the trolling, even if they did compare my lovely dress to Big Bird. It’s a good job I love Big Bird!”
An advocate of therapy, which at helped with the online nastiness last year, Shirley says she hasn’t felt the need to go to counselling “for the last several months”.
“When my body is moving like this well-oiled machine, I do feel mentally better. I don’t feel as challenged. My anxiety is a little bit lower. So I’m actually doing quite good.”
It’s just as well, as Shirley couldn’t be busier, because Strictly, a job she “absolutely adores”, comes at the same time as the Royal Albert Hall international Latin American Ballroom Championships.
Plus her debut novel, Murder on the Dancefloor, is out on Thursday and though fictional, she promises it contains much of the “intrigue, backstabbing, bed-hopping and manipulation” she was unable to include in her 2020 autobiography.
But the most anticipated upcoming role is that of ‘Glam-ma’, as son Mark – a pro on America’s Dancing With The Stars since 2007 – and his wife, the singer-songwriter BC Jean, look forward to the birth of their first baby this month.
“We’re very, very excited. My daughter-in-law’s looking fabulous and glowing. That baby’s going to be very loved.”