Strictly Come Dancing star's heartbreaking admission about mum's 'regret' and tough upbringing

Rock legend turned Strictly Come Dancing star Toyah Wilcox, 66, has previously addressed her turbulent relationship with her mum and her strict upbringing - including a heartbreaking admission

There's always another side to the glitz and glam of a Strictly contestant's life.

Rock legend Toyah Wilcox is no exception. The 66-year-old singer and actress was eliminated from the show following her Samba to Poor Unfortunate Souls from The Little Mermaid film, where she and Neil Jones received a low score of just 15 from the judges. It was a small improvement from the duo's debut dance, where they came last on the leaderboard for their Tango, and received only 12 points, but wasn't enough to keep her in the competition.

After being voted off, Toyah and Neil appeared on the Strictly spin-off It Takes Two to discuss their experience. "If you don't want to do a dance-off, get rid of Chris," she advised, referencing how comedian Chris McCausland is her favourite to win.

But before her Strictly stint and impressive career in music and TV, Toyah had an 'incredibly strict' upbringing and a complicated relationship with her mum. "My father was having a dirty weekend in Weston-super-Mare with a woman he was engaged to when he saw my mother and fell in love with her," she revealed back in 2013 in an interview with the Guardian.

"He pursued her for about 14 months, followed her around the country and proposed to her. He was nine years older than her when they got married, and she was pregnant immediately, aged 19, and I think she regretted it."

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Growing up, Toyah said her farther 'went through a stage' where he'd line her and her siblings up every Friday and strike them with a cane on their hands if they'd been 'naughty'. "And this was mainly to pull my brother into line," she explained. "My brother is five years older and my sister's eight years older. He would use a little bamboo cane, which my brother saw most of. Because I was the one struggling with walking and dyslexia I always got off lightly, which the other two really resented me for."

But it was her mum that she didn't see eye-to-eye with, even from a young age. "My sister put it quite wisely that Mum never had a good word for me; it was only criticism," she added. "I can remember in 1982, I won the equivalent of the Brits' best female singer, I phoned my parents to tell them I'd won and my mother said 'Well, don't boast. It won't last for ever'. She was the one person that made me address suicide on a regular basis."

If you've been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, help is available. Click here to find your nearest resource.

Strictly Come Dancing airs every Saturday on BBC One.

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