Strictly's Toyah Willcox suffers near-death experience on TV set amid director's 'abusive' tirade

Strictly Come Dancing star Toyah Willcox has recalled a terrifying near-death experience she described as 'the most traumatic experience of my life' on a TV set at the hands of an 'abusive' director

Strictly Come Dancing's Toyah Willcox has opened up about a near-death experience on set, describing it as "the most traumatic experience of my life".

The 66-year-old recounted the harrowing incident where she inadvertently stepped into the path of a glider after facing verbal abuse from a director while filming for the BBC show Holiday.

Toyah, who is currently busy with rehearsals for her debut dance with Neil Jones, said: "I remember one of the most traumatic experiences of my life while working on the Holiday TV programme. It was the morning the death of Princess Diana was announced. The world was heartbroken and shocked, or so I believed.

"That day I was working with a guest director who was clearly anti-royal. I was deeply upset, having known Princess Diana and greatly respected her and how she had to deal with so much bullying from photographers. We were filming on a glider airfield in Hereford and little was being done quickly because everyone wanted to down tools, talk and respect the events of the past 12 hours and just grieve.

"The director, frustrated at everyone being so saddened, lost their temper, standing on the glider landing strip and yelling 'Who gives a f*** about some woman being killed in a car crash and leaving two children behind, it happens every day!

"Up until this point, this director had been unbearable to work with anyway, but at that moment I was filled with rage. I was so numb and traumatised at one point I turned and walked into the oncoming path of a speeding silent glider about to land, I almost got killed."

READ MORE: Vanessa Feltz back on TV after emergency surgery and 'extraordinary pain' worse than childbirth

Toyah shared these thoughts on her blog. Her past experiences with abusive directors and co-stars have led Toyah to adopt a zero-tolerance policy towards unpleasant behaviour on the BBC contest, reports the Express.

This comes as the BBC is eager to wrap up the investigation into allegations of bullying involving Giovanni Pernice and Amanda Abbington. Actress Amanda, 50, raised concerns about the Italian star's alleged aggressive bullying during training, sparking a damaging public outcry. Giovanni has consistently refuted these allegations.

Toyah previously said: "I support all of you who are tolerating the intolerable in the work space and I stand by my motto: "Everyone has a unique quality to bring to the world. If anyone ever tells you otherwise remember "the abuser always blames their victims".

Toyah - born with a twisted spine, a clubbed right foot and one leg shorter than the other - recently spoke out about her health struggles and revealed she has suffered from crippling insomnia since she was just 14.

In a chat with the Mirror, she explained how it began alongside the stress of school exams. She said: "I experienced the typical teenage stress that the pressure of cramming for exams, and then sitting there for hours on end doing them brings."

"During what felt like a solid month of exam papers, I just stopped sleeping. Once the pattern set in, it became a habit and I never really addressed it because back then no one really talked about insomnia. You'd just had a bad night's sleep."

Toyah impressed viewers with her glamorous appearance on last week's show, yet it was her husband, rock legend Robert Fripp in the audience that sparked buzz online.

Acknowledged for his work with King Crimson and collaborations with icons such as David Bowie, Fripp's presence caught fans off-guard. Social media lit up with comments from surprised fans, with one tweeting: "Honestly never thought I'd see Robert Fripp on #Strictly." Another fan shared their astonishment, posting: "Robert Fripp on #strictly never thought I'd see the day."

Follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads