Oti Mabuse has admitted that Strictly Come Dancing took a toll on her marriage, claiming she wasn’t “100% in” due to the show’s demands.
The 34-year-old twinkle-toed star, who won the glitterball trophy with Kelvin Fletcher and Bill Bailey in back-to-back wins in 2019 and 2020, confessed on Paul Carrick Brunson’s We Need To Talk podcast that the dance contest consumed her life during her seven years on it.
She revealed: “It is all you think about 24/7. It’s all you do. You’re on tour, you’re doing other Strictly-associated shows. You’re not really 100% in the marriage, because this is gold. The trophy is handmade, by the way, and you’re fixated on it.”
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The dancing queen also opened up about her personal struggles with self-worth, saying: “In my head, I felt, ‘I’m not good enough’. I’m not good enough in my job’. All of this pressure that I [had] – I’m representing black women. I’m representing African women. I stand for so much – if I can’t get this job done, I’m not good enough. I don’t deserve to be here’.”
(Image: Can Nguyen/REX/Shutterstock)
Oti recounted how husband Marius Iepure, whom she wed in 2014, provided support when the pressures of fame became too much. After breaking down in the shower, Marius was there to lift her spirits.
Oti added: “[Marius] came in, he got in the shower, fully clothed, he picked me up, and he just hugged me and held me. He said, ‘It’s just a job. You have family, you have friends, you have me and you have food’.
“In that moment, I realised that no matter how much I have this career – and I love the show and everything it encompasses – at the end of the day, I get to go home to the things that make me more. It is not who I am, it’s what I do.”
Marius, who joined Oti for the podcast chat and shares her passion as a dancer, opened up about his perspective: “I’m in that business. I knew what it takes to be a successful dancer and choreographer in a show like that, so it was nothing new. But obviously it’s tough and it hurts and it’s not the easiest time but you see the end of the tunnel.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
