Strictly’s Shirley Ballas has revealed the sad reason she is unable to see her son this Christmas.
The show’s head judge is a proud mum to Mark, whom she shares with ex-husband Corky. Like his mum, Mark is also an accomplished dancer and lives in the States and stars on the US version of Strictly, Dancing With The Stars.
And in 2023, Shirley – who is back on Strictly tonight (December 13) – became a grandmother for the first time when Mark welcomed his son, Banksi, with wife BC Jean.
However, with Christmas just around the corner, Shirley has recently shared that she sadly won’t have her entire family gathered together for the celebrations.
Shirley Ballas on why she’s not spending Christmas with son Mark
In a recent interview, Shirley revealed that she will not be able to see Mark at Christmas, due to her spending the period in the UK, with her elderly mum Audrey.
Since 2022, Audrey has suffered with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Because of her health issues, she cannot travel and visit her grandson Mark in the US.
Shirley told the Mirror: “I see them five or six times a year at the moment, because obviously, with my mum being in remission of cancer, and now with the COPD, she can’t travel anymore, and I like to be at home with her.”
I do feel quite a big part of their lives.
Nonetheless Shirley revealed that Mark always stay in touch no matter what. She shared: “My son is the best person at calling his mum and his gran. He knows we’re together and he FaceTimes us pretty much every day.”
The dancer added: “If anything exciting is going on or the baby does this or that, he’s the first one on the phone to tell us and share with us, so I do feel quite a big part of their lives.”
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Shirley on mum’s COPD battle
Shirley has been open over the years about watching her mother live with the lung disease, COPD. She told BBC Radio Manchester in November: “My mum’s a smoker and over these past three years, I’ve got to witness her being out of breath.
“I’ve got to witness her being really poorly. I’ve been opposite her when she couldn’t get a breath and was choking because the airways closed.”
The TV star also said that because of her mum’s condition, her mother becomes “nervous that if we go shopping – if she starts coughing – people are going to stare at her”.
Shirley said: “So we only go out once a week now, it’ll be for two or three hours. She doesn’t care to go outside, she just prefers to be home which is kind of sad.”
Watch Shirley on Strictly Come Dancing on Saturday (December 13) at 6:35pm on BBC One.
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