Strictly head judge Shirley Ballas shares how she’s prepping for the series
The day HELLO! met Shirley Ballas, she’d spent the morning in an ice bath.
Six minutes at sub-zero temperatures sets the 63-year-old up for the day, she says. “It makes me feel revitalised, helps me think clearly and really kicks off my day.”
Strictly’s head judge takes to her ice bath every morning, even if just for two minutes – and that’s just the start of the ways the dancer looks after her body, which she calls a “temple.”
On top of her ice baths, Shirley books in for regular hot yoga sessions, as well as frequently spinning on her Peloton bike and walks in nature – when her packed schedule allows.
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“Your body is your temple,” she notes. “If you’re not feeding it right, don’t expect it to do good things.”
Shirley is taking extra care of herself right now, to coincide with the start of this year’s season of Strictly Come Dancing. “We’re about to go back on the show, so I’ve really cut back. No sugar, no sweets, no treats, no bread. Just really good, solid food.
“I very much watch what I eat. If it’s green and grown in the ground, I’ll eat it.”
Of her dedication to her health, Shirley says: “Healthy eating is absolutely imperative to making you feel the best version of yourself.”
One person who shares Shirley’s dedication to health is her son, Mark Ballas. Also a dancer, Mark lives in L.A. with his wife and baby son, Banski Wylde, and Shirley visits her son as much as possible, loving the California lifestyle.
“My son’s a health freak, so everything’s juiced,” Shirley says. “They eat religiously healthy food.”
Mother-son bond
Shirley and Mark are extremely close, with Shirley visiting him in L.A. twice in August.
“It’s very difficult for me to leave him and I miss him every day,” she admits.
With such a close relationship, it’s understandable that when he moved out at 19, Shirley says she felt “suffering at the highest level”.
“I was 41 and just starting perimenopause when he left, and every emotion felt larger than life,” she explains. “I still struggle to this day with being apart from him, and if I could go back to when he was young, I’d want to do less work and have more time with him.”
Visibly emotional recalling the pain of empty nest syndrome, Shirley shared: “It’s the worst feeling in the world, and you never get used to it. It’s miserable upon miserable and even more miserable.”
Shirley adds that it’s not all doom and gloom, though. She and Mark talk every day via FaceTime and she says when he hugs her, “he never wants to let go.”
Shirley’s menopause experience
It’s now over 20 years since Shirley was first plunged into perimenopause, and despite having a rough ride during the transition, the dancer shares many positives that have come from it.
“I don’t care what people think about me anymore,” she says. “I like to do my own thing now, I won’t be told what to do and I’m no longer people-pleasing.
“Life is so short and it moves so fast, you have to do what you want to do and what makes you comfortable.
“I’ve learned the value of me-time, and while I still struggle to carve out time for myself with my work schedule, I implore other women not to put anything off. If you think you want to do something, do it!”
