Strictly's Oti Mabuse reveals she 'broke down in shower fully clothed' amid BBC show 'lifestyle'

Former Strictly Come Dancing star Oti Mabuse has admitted her time on the show was more of a 'lifestyle' and admitted she didn't always communicate with friends and family

Oti Mabuse has candidly opened up about how working on Strictly Come Dancing led to her not "really" being in her own marriage.

The professional dancer, 34, revealed she found herself physically and emotionally detaching from her husband, Marius Lepure, after joining the hit BBC show. Her role on the show came about just a year after she married her Romanian beau in 2014.

Speaking to relationship coach Paul Carrick Brunson on his We Need To Talk podcast, Oti described the show as being "a lifestyle choice" instead of a TV show. "It is all you think about 24/7," she confessed. "It’s all you do. You're on tour, you’re doing other Strictly-associated shows. You're not really 100% in the marriage, because this is gold. The trophy is handmade, by the way, and you're fixated on it."

She admitted she didn't communicate with those closest to her during her opening years on the show. "I didn't communicate with my friends, I didn't communicate with my family, I didn't communicate with my husband. It was just this one goal that I wanted to achieve so, so, so, so so much."

Marius, who was also appearing on the podcast, told the Married At First Sight relationship expert that he understood what was required if his wife was going to win Strictly. "I’m in that business. I knew what it takes to be a successful dancer and choreographer in a show like that, so it was nothing new. But obviously it's tough and it hurts and it's not the easiest time but you see the end of the tunnel"

The hard work was worth it professionally for Oti, who won the show in 2019 alongside Emmerdale star Kelvin Fletcher. She also lifted the glitterball a series later after partnering with comedian Bill Bailey. But she admits the "lows" left her in floods of tears in the shower fully clothed. She revealed how partnering a contestant who she couldn't make "love the job" meant she couldn't teach them. It led to the tears flowing in what she labelled her "lowest moment".

“In my head, I felt, ‘I'm not good enough'," she continued. "'I'm not good enough in my job'. All of this pressure that I [had] - I’m representing black women. I'm representing African women. I stand for so much - if I can't get this job done, I'm not good enough. I don't deserve to be here’.

“[Marius] came in, he got in the shower, fully clothed, he picked me up, and he just hugged me and held me. He said, 'It's just a job. You have family, you have friends, you have me and you have food’. In that moment, I realised that no matter how much I have this career - and I love the show and everything it encompasses - at the end of the day, I get to go home to the things that make me more. It is not who I am, it's what I do."

Oti and 41-year-old hubby Marius share a daughter together having welcomed the youngster last year.

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