Strictly's Sarah Hadland gives rare insight into 'juggling' parenthood with rehearsals

Strictly Come Dancing contestant Sarah Hadland spoke about juggling parenthood and competing on the BBC show with Vito Coppola whilst at the Pride of Britain Awards

Actor Sarah Hadland has provided a rare insight into parenthood, with her having spoken about balancing being a parent with rehearsing for Strictly Come Dancing.

Sarah, 53, is among the contestants on the latest series of the BBC show and has been paired up with professional dancer Vito Coppola, 32. They were among the Strictly stars at the Daily Mirror's Pride of Britain Awards on Monday.

Whilst at the annual awards ceremony at Grosvenor House in London, Sarah - best known for her role in sitcom Miranda - spoke to Hello! magazine about balancing parenthood with her rehearsal schedule for Strictly. The actor, who reportedly has a daughter, shared: "It's quite a juggle but you manage to do it like all working mums." She added: "I think you just have to put your 'mum hat' on and your 'work hat' on and I feel so lucky to be doing this show."

Her dance partner Vito - who has been on Strictly since 2022 - encouraged her to "take care" of herself and promised he would make sure she did whilst on the red carpet. Sarah added: "He does always say 'make sure you get enough sleep, properly look after yourself', which I really appreciate."

Sarah is understood to typically keep her personal life out of the spotlight, though she did mention her family on a recent episode of Strictly. It was during rehearsal footage ahead of her foxtrot with Vito to Billie Eilish's Birds of a Feather.

Vito was heard asking what the song means to Sarah, to which she replied: "It's about my family. And it's about me and my little one." She went on to share about her child: "This song is special to us because we sing it together."

Viewers were then shown a picture of two birds, which had feathered glued onto them. One had "me" underneath, whilst the other depicted "mummy". Sarah said: "We also have a little picture of us both as birds that we made together."

"It would be really lovely to show how I feel in the dance," she told her dance partner. Vito responded by assuring her ahead of their performance: "I promise I will do my best in order to make sure the dance will represent your relationship."

Sarah and Vito went on to receive a score of 27 from the judges for the performance in the fourth week of the latest series of Strictly. Head judge Shirley Ballas praised Sarah over her "lovely performance" as part of the feedback.

That week, Sarah and Vito ended up fourth from the bottom of the leaderboard. Nick Knowles and his dance partner Luba Mushtuk were voted out of the competition after having been up against Shayne Ward and Nancy Xu in the dance-off.

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