I COULD NOT COPE WITHOUT STRICTLY
ALEXANDRA Burke has revealed that Strictly Come Dancing is helping her to cope with the loss of her mum.
The singer said she was the happiest she’s been “in a long time” during her jive routine a week ago.
Alexandra said she is “genuinely having a wonderful experience on the show, and I don’t know what I would do without it right now”.
She received 39 out of 40 from the judges for her routine to Tina Turner’s Proud Mary on the live show but broke down in tears afterwards, saying she wished her mum, Melissa Bell, was there with her.
Soul II Soul singer Melissa, who had battled kidney failure for years, died aged 53 on August 28, the day the stars filmed Strictly’s launch show.
Former X Factor winner Alexandra admitted that during the jive with dance partner Gorka Marquez, the “emotion got too much for me” but said rehearsals for the BBC show are helping her deal with her grief.
She told the Radio Times: “If I could lock up my grief and my emotions in a box, I would. I’m not somebody who wants to cry on TV.
“I’ve tried really hard not to but following our jive, the emotion just got too much for me.
“I wasn’t that happy with it in rehearsal and I wasn’t expecting to get the high scores I did, so that minute and 37 seconds on the dance floor felt electric. It was the happiest I have been for a very long time.
“But then I saw my brother in the audience and my delight turned to overwhelming sadness as I imagined my mum sitting alongside him. I felt guilty for feeling such joy.”
Alexandra said Gorka also cried as “he was upset that I hadn’t told him how much I’ve been struggling”.
She added: “The rehearsal room has become my sanctuary.
“It is a happy place where I force myself to leave my grief at the door and focus on being creative and having fun.”