Shirley Ballas’ wild love life – bum tattoo, affair ‘bust up’ and cancelled engagement

She recently wowed fans with her incredible singing voice when she was unmasked at Rat on The Masked Singer UK.

On Saturday (January 13) Shirley Ballas fooled the judges and many of the millions of viewers tuning in at home with her impressive performance of Boom, Boom, Boom by the Vengaboys. During her time on the show, the professional dancer revealed some surprising facts about her love life away from the cameras.

Since she was booted from the competition, the Strictly Come Dancing judge has vowed to continue pursuing her new love of singing after. Now, Daily Star has taken a deep dive inside her wild love life as the beloved BBC One dance show hits the road for the first leg of its nationwide tour.

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It’s fair to say the brunette beauty, 63, hasn’t always been lucky in love. The TV star has been married twice and both relationships led to very different paths. One of her ex-husband’s became a lifelong friend while the other broke the mum-of-one’s heart.

First love

Starting at the beginning, Shirley’s first husband was her former dance partner Sammy Stopford, who she tied the knot with when she was just 18. The happy couple walked down the aisle back in 1980 and went on to win a string of dancing competitions together including the Professional Latin at Blackpool Dance Festival in 1983.

But just four years after the pair said ‘I do’, the coupled decided to go their separate ways and filed for a divorce in 1984. Despite their split, the pair have remained close friends over the years.

In 2017, she was spotted having lunch with her former flame. Speaking at the time, she gushed: “Lunch with my first husband, Sammy Stopford. Still love him to bits.”

She has continued to support her “dear friend” Sammy and his successful dance school and charity ventures over the years.

‘Fat-shaming’ ex

Despite her first marriage ending after less than five years, Shirley went on to walk down the aisle for the second time when she met her second husband Corky Ballas. It’s fair to say her second marriage couldn’t have been more different to her first when the pair met at a dance competition in Canada.

The northern lass tied the knot to the American ballroom dancer in 1985 and stayed together for 22 years. They welcomed their son Mark, now 36, before they decided to call it quits in 2007 – but it wasn’t a happy marriage for Shirley.

In her 2020 memoir, Behind The Sequins, the TV judge revealed Corky had “multiple girlfriends” throughout their marriage – even when she moved to America for him. She added: “I gave up my life for that man.”

The star claims Corky often fat-shamed her throughout their relationship – even when she was pregnant with their son. The mum-of-one alleged Corky would say: “Get too big and I’m out the door. I don’t do fat, Shirley.”

After she developed a craving for doughnuts during her pregnancy, she claimed Corky once hid a cockroach in one in order to prevent her from eating them. She explained: “My husband at the time thought I was too heavy for being three months pregnant, so he put a roach underneath my doughnut.

“When I ate it, the cockroach crackled in my mouth with the legs dangling outside. This made me vomit straight away.” The horrific experience led to Shirley never eating another doughnut since. Corky has never publicly commented on the claims.

Boob job

Shirley later revealed that she became so conscious of her physical appearance due to Corky’s constant comments that she went on to have a boob job. She revealed: “He’d say, ‘You’re too far. What’s that mole on your chin? Your nose is crooked, you need a nose job. Your breasts are too small’.

The star admitted she increased her breast size from 34B to a 34DD “for all the wrong reasons” later revealed that she went through with the procedure in a bid to please Corky back in 2002. She told Prima magazine: “I have struggled with my self-esteem all my life.

“I’ve done all sorts to try to make myself feel more confident. I had my teeth straightened and fat drained out of my arms and legs.

“I thought doing my boobs would make my husband at the time like me more, but I was doing it for the wrong reasons. You have to love yourself first. That’s my message to every woman.”

In 2019, Shirley finally had her breast implants removed after medical experts warned it would be difficult to check for cancer.

Affair ‘bust-up’

The dancing champion claimed Corky cheated on her multiple times throughout their relationship. But she once admitted that things went too far and she punched one of his lovers in the face after the woman made a drunken brag about her husband.

Writing in her memoir, she recalled: “The woman in question sidled up to me, clearly the worse for a drink or two, and said. ‘You and I need to talk’. I tried to duck it, saying I had nothing to say to her, but she refused to budge.

“Suddenly, it seemed as if everything went into slow motion as I turned round to face her, just as she said, ‘You need to get used to the fact that I f****d your husband’.” Shirley continued: “There was a little white angel on one of my shoulders, and a little red angel on the other one.

“The white angel told me, ‘Keep walking’ while the red angel said, ‘Sock her in the gob’. So that’s what I did. I punched her and she rolled away.

“I’m not proud. All I could hear around me were people whispering, ‘Is that Shirley Ballas?’ Needless to say, I did not return to my front-row seat.”

In 2017, Corky spoke to The Sun and claimed that he wasn’t the only one who cheated during their marriage, claiming that Shirley cheated on him with “at least 10 different men”.

Cancelled engagement

In 2019, Shirley began dating actor Danny Taylor after the met while performing in a pantomime production of Jack and the Beanstalk. Speaking about him later that year, she gushed: “I would marry him tomorrow if he asked me. If this is what love is, I have never experienced it before.

“He’s very king and very caring – he’s always there for me. I hope he’ll propose one day but he’s never married and I think he’s a bit nervous about it, so we’ll see. Come on, Danny!” Shirley previously referred to the actor as ‘The One’ in an interview with Hello magazine.

She told the publication: “We have a lot in common and we laugh all the time. He is part of the reason why I readjusted my life. Danny is just so magnificently special. I have met his parents and everybody likes each other. That’s a plus.”

In 2021, Danny surprised the star when he popped the question with a sparkling diamond ring. The couple secretly got engaged, but two years later, she revealed to MailOnline that she wanted to postpone her wedding to pursue her love of travel.

She told the outlet: “I’ve changed my mind. I just feel that at this particular point in my life, my mother and I have got this great relationship and we want to do some travelling and there is different things we want to do.

[The relationship is] going good – I’m busy, he’s busy and we talk to each other every day – several times a day and my mum talks to him as well.” It was understood that the couple were going to walk down the aisle last year, but now Shirley has brazenly revealed that she has no intentions of marrying again.

Speaking to The Sun last week: “Two marriages, an engagement, two long-term relationships later and I will not be getting marriage again. I’ve made the decision.”

Bum tattoo

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But the ballroom dancer has proven that she is still committed to her boyfriend Danny after she revealed on The Masked Singer that she has his name tattooed on her bottom. When asked what the tattoo gun clue was in reference to in the clip, she revealed that she has tattoos “all over my backside.

“All over, and all over, and all over. I have tattoos on my bottom – a butterfly which represents freedom on one side. When my brother was alive, he was a fisherman, and he used to see all these beautiful frogs when he was out and about.

“So when he passed away I put a beautiful frog on my backside. I put my boyfriend’s name on my bottom as well. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing but we’re still together so…”

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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk