Strictly Come Dancing Shirley Ballas was in a 'dark place' amidst debilitating issue

Shirley Ballas has opened up about her experience of menopause, revealing that it left her in a very 'dark place'. The Strictly star, 65, mentioned she initially lacked someone to confide in and felt completely misunderstood until a major wake-up call.

Speaking on ITV's This Morning just yesterday, she said: "[It impacted me] terribly. Terribly, and no one to talk about it with. Eventually, I talked to my son because I really felt in a dark place.

"But my mother sailed through the menopause, and it wasn’t something from that era that they really talked about. But I got myself living in America, I was away from my mum at the time."

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Menopause occurs when your menstrual periods cease as a result of declining hormone levels. According to the NHS, it typically affects women aged 45 to 55, although it can occur earlier.

Some women may show no signs of menopause, while others can experience a range of physical and mental health symptoms. These include, but are not limited to, increased anxiety, brain fog, hot flushes, sleep troubles and heart palpitations.

Shirley shared that menopause made her feel 'really down and out', which eventually affected her teaching career. This situation reached a turning point when a young man pulled her aside, completely altering her viewpoint.

"I mean, no one seemed to understand me. It affected my teaching," Shirley continued. "I’d go to work every day, I was a little bit sharper with everyone.

"A lovely young man called Wrangel took me to one side, he said, 'I don’t know what is going on in your life, but this isn’t the teacher that we are used to.'

"And that was a wake-up call. And then I spoke to my son, he had a doctor, and then I did bioidentical hormones, and my life changed forever."

Bioidentical hormones are artificially created hormones often derived from plants. They are formulated to be used by the body in the same way as natural hormones, which are especially beneficial for people dealing with hormonal imbalances.

Regulated bioidentical hormones are available on the NHS within hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Crucially, these differ from compounded bioidentical hormones, which are sometimes offered in private clinics and are not available with the NHS. This is primarily because it's unclear how effective or safe they are.

Continuing the conversation, This Morning presenter Cat Deely also asked Shirley: "And it just literally pulled you out of that darkness?" To this, Shirley replied: "Just to get my body balanced.

"So, my body was way unbalanced. And now I do that check once a year. I get my hormones checked just to make sure, even at 65, that everything is working and functioning, and so on."

For emotional support, call the Samaritans 24-hour helpline at 116 123, email jo@samaritans.org, visit a Samaritans branch in person, or go to the Samaritans website.