{"id":463577,"date":"2026-05-23T15:31:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T15:31:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/463577\/"},"modified":"2026-05-23T15:31:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T15:31:09","slug":"ballas-living-with-mother-88-is-most-joyous-thing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/463577\/","title":{"rendered":"Ballas: Living with mother, 88, is ‘most joyous thing’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shirley Ballas has said living with her mother is “the most joyous thing”, adding that the 88-year-old is “self-sufficient” \u2013 unlike boyfriends.<\/p>\n

Strictly Come Dancing’s head judge, who lives in south-east London with her mother Audrey Rich, told the Telegraph: “Living with her is the most joyous thing, she does the washing and the ironing, and still stands on a stool to clean her ornaments \u2013 though I wish she wouldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

“She puts the meals on the table, things like vegetable casseroles, and I take care of the rest. We are a bit like husband and wife.”<\/p>\n

The 65-year-old former professional dancer who split with her partner Danny Taylor in 2024 after six years together previously said she did not think she would ever have another relationship.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019ve had a few boyfriends and I just found myself always having to take care of them,” said Ballas of her living arrangement, telling the newspaper her mother moved in permanently four years ago.<\/p>\n

“My mother, however, is self-sufficient. She doesn\u2019t like a fuss, she doesn\u2019t tell me what to say or tell me what to do.”<\/p>\n

Ballas, who has been married twice, had been engaged to Taylor, who is 13 years her junior, but called it off after what she called “unforgivable behaviour”.<\/p>\n

\"LONDON,
\nStrictly Come Dancing’s head judge lives in south-east London with her mother<\/p>\n

Of Taylor being labelled her toyboy, the Wallasey-born dancer said: “What annoys me is that older men dating younger women get applauded. Al Pacino is in his 80s and has just had a baby.<\/p>\n

“Yet if women get a younger boyfriend it\u2019s disdainfully looked upon. Women get judged.”<\/p>\n

The head judge, who is currently single, said she has a few “friends”, but that there is “nothing I would want to tag as ‘boyfriend and girlfriend\u2019”.<\/p>\n

“I love the idea of being married, even after two failed marriages and failed relationships along the way,” she said. “But at this age you get set in your ways.”<\/p>\n

When Ballas returns to the judge\u2019s table on the Strictly set in September, it will be alongside the new hosts, announced earlier this week following Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman\u2019s departure last year.<\/a><\/p>\n

“I\u2019ve worked with Emma (Willis) before on Cooking with the Stars and she is a true professional. And who doesn\u2019t love JoJo (Johannes Radebe)? He\u2019s a shining star,” said Ballas.<\/p>\n

“And I\u2019m looking forward to the banter Josh (Widdicombe) is going to bring, he\u2019s a fabulous comedian, I know he\u2019s going to give Craig Revel Horwood a run for his money with the comebacks.”<\/p>\n

Her mother survived colon cancer and has COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease).<\/p>\n

\"Strictly
\nBallas says she has no plans to retire<\/p>\n

Though she thinks her time on TV will come to an end, Ballas believes she will not retire.<\/p>\n

“I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll ever retire, I\u2019m not going to sit in the garden planting tulips, that\u2019s not who I am,” Ballas said.<\/p>\n

“The TV work will come to an end, that\u2019s how it works, but it\u2019s given me a platform to help people \u2013 charities, campaigns, COPD awareness \u2013 and that\u2019s the part I love.<\/p>\n

“Along with being a dance teacher because I love helping young people achieve their dreams, just as I have.”<\/p>\n

Source: Press Association<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shirley Ballas has said living with her mother is “the most joyous thing”, adding that the 88-year-old is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":463578,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[321,93,61,60],"class_list":["post-463577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=463577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463577\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/463578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=463577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=463577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=463577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}