I'm not a judgmental person because I have been judged all my life.
Shirley Ballas
I've had a lot of trolling on Instagram, things I can't even repeat on air. The biggest shock was when it was hand-delivered to the Hippodrome theatre before I went on air. Hand-written.
How many years did I waste worrying about the way I look? I'm almost 60 and it has taken me all these years. Don't wait until you get to my age to realize that you are beautiful.
When you get to my age, 59, the thought of getting the Latin dress and the Latin shoes on is a bit worrying. Your heart and your mind is always willing, but sometimes your body just says What are you doing?!'
The first thing I do in the morning is pick up my cell phone and call my mother to check that she's ok, and the first thing I do in the evening is call my mother to see how she's doing, and my son to see how his day went.
I always felt in my life I had something to prove. To myself, and to anyone who ever said I wouldn't amount to anything.
You know when you go into a room there's always somebody that thinks they're better than somebody else.
When I was with my second husband, I'd always paint my nails and go to bed with my make-up on; he loved all that.
Ever since I was a little girl I always wanted to be so perfect.
My hairdresser Alan, who I've known since I began competing, lives with us, along with his husband Nathan, so I have my own gay gaggle.
My favorite room in my house is my bedroom; my private space where I can go to do my reading or listen to music.
I'm such a perfectionist that I see every mistake that I make.
On Twitter one lady said, I've seen corpses that look better than Shirley.' I saw the picture she was talking about that Comic Relief had posted and I thought, Well yeah, she's got a point.'
I'm the happiest at home when I get a visit from my daughter-in-law, BC Jean, and Mark Ballas, my son. They'll pop round for breakfast or I'll attempt to cook them a meal. That's the most special time for me.
When I moved to L.A. I was single and didn't want to be on my own.
I don't dwell, I'm not a dweller. I just like to keep moving forward, because life is short.
Don't do what I did and think you need to have these procedures to make you look more attractive. Don't look at the implant and think it will make you beautiful and everyone will really love you.
My whole life I've never felt, as a female, I was up to scratch.
When I met Corky, he was a cook, a chef. He never started dancing seriously until he was 21, which shows you can make it from any age.
If I could go back to my younger self, I would never have had the implants done. I feel relieved and I feel proud for removing them now.
I've been in an industry of glitz since I was a little girl. I'm always going to love to wear eveningwear and eyelashes.
Riches and fame don't come close to having family members and close friends who really care for you.
When I first went on Strictly' I had a little phase at the beginning, you know, when I was sat next to this really beautiful lady, Darcey Bussell - this ballerina, this Snow White beauty - that I stopped eating until I looked at myself and realized I looked so gaunt.
You can't make somebody love you, no matter what you do to yourself. You can get implants, you can get all these procedures, thinking you will be more of a woman for that person. But it does not make a difference. If they don't love you, they won't no matter what you do to your appearance.
I'm proud of winning the British Open in 1983 when I was very young.
There was some bullying going on in my industry, which I felt particularly when I was growing up and as I got older.
If you use your time well and you have your health you are already a millionaire and everything else is secondary.
Aside from dancing, the biggest and proudest moment of my whole entire life was when my son Mark was born.
I was engaged at 16 to Nigel Tiffany and he's now my financial adviser, so we've been friends all these years.
It's not about what somebody else thinks about you, it's about what I feel like in my own clothes in my own skin.
People seem to think that, by the time you hit 45 or 50, you might as well just pack it in and call it a day.
My mother collects engagement rings.
I think dancing was a way of showing your femininity and, through the years, your strength, because it's a male-dominated industry.
I haven't got a green bone in my body. I have not got a jealous streak of any type at all.
I don't like the darkness and sleep with the light on.
I am an absolute clean freak and scrub things constantly; I am an over-perfectionist.
I am terrible at remembering names.
I have a little piece of extra skin - a good inch - on the end of my chin that I play with like Silly Putty.
When I got the Strictly' job it made sense to come back to England.
I didn't overly have friends in L.A. I would work and come home and watch television.
I like the table to be beautiful with flowers and a nice tablecloth. I'm the hostess with the mostess.
When you are part of a massive TV show like Strictly,' it's not just about the professional dancers and celebrities taking part, there could be young or old people out there who are watching and they might also be inspired to take up dancing, and I find that so special.
I love ballroom dance, my favorite style being the Argentine Tango.
It doesn't seem very long ago I was a girl from a council estate with nothing but dreams.
As a child I was always busy, always throwing myself into something, whether it was the Brownies or a play at school.
I think I was always driven because I came from absolutely nothing. I was that piece of rubbish from a block of flats on a council estate.
Ballroom is a man's world. It's tough for women, particularly single women. But I've never expected life to be anything but tough.
One of the things people learn with me is I don't need to pull someone else down to build myself up, and I will live and die by that rule.
I was a fan of Meghan's before she met our gorgeous Prince Harry. I loved her in Suits,' I admired her work ethic and her charity work, and I think she is such a breath of fresh air.
'Strictly' was my first job in TV ever.
