Shirley Ballas' pain over mum's 'slow death' admitting 'nobody will stop her smoking'

Strictly Come Dancing’s Shirley Ballas can’t wait to get back in the ballroom this autumn. The head judge, 65, is reprising her role on the panel alongside Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse and Anton du Beke. Shirley, who has been a judge on the BBC juggernaut since 2017, says: “This year is unbelievable. It’s like a rebirth, a relaunch, a ‘let’s bring this again’, it’s really exciting. “And the public can’t stand the fact that they don’t know [what’s coming]. I know... but they don’t know. I’m so excited. I just think that people love spangles and beads. I love it all. When people start talking about the show I know I’m going to be one year older, we’re going into Christmas , into the colder weather , everyone will be huddled around the fireplace, the little ones, grandma, grandpa, mummy, daddy. And they’re all invested in that show.” Strictly is a show for the whole family, says Shirley, a champion ballroom dancer, world-renowned dance teacher and adjudicator. She says: “I’ve met so many people who are now older and they started watching it when they were four. It’s spectacular.” There has been much chatter about potential new hosts following the departure of Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly, as well as the shake-up of professional dancers including Gorka Marquez, Nadiya Bychkova, Luba Mushtuk and Michelle Tsiakkas, who have all left. But Shirley thinks the furore is brilliant. “I think generally, human nature is curious and people love gossip, they love speculation,” she says. "They like to go home and scroll their phone and they believe everything they read, which is rubbish. The judges have been announced, so you understand we’re all coming out. Then we’ve got the professionals that you saw but we have five new professionals, which are fantastic – and they will be announced in due course.” While Shirley is excited for the show, she reveals juggling the full-on role and caring for her 88-year-old mother, Audrey, who has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, is tough. Shirley is an ambassador for the charity Asthma & Lung UK and lives in London with Audrey. “It’s a slow digression, it’s a slow death,” says Shirley of COPD, a lung condition caused by damage to the lungs, resulting in swelling and irritation, also called inflammation, inside the airways. “My mum smoked the majority of her life. The only time she didn’t was when my brother died – there were 18 months there when she didn’t smoke which was fascinating to me.” Shirley’s brother David took his own life in 2003 at the age of 44. "Under those stressful conditions she stopped, but nobody will stop her smoking now,” says Shirley. "She’s nearly 90. She’s going to have a whisky and a smoke and she knows what comes with it. I tell her this is what to expect, this is what’s coming if you carry on... but it’s so addictive.” Shirley was speaking ahead of the Chelsea Flower Show, which starts on May 18, and this year will see Asthma & Lung UK’s Breathing Space Garden, featuring antioxidant pine trees. She compares COPD to the pandemic, saying: “Right now we have company in our house and there’s one girl with a cold and I have to isolate my mother. If she gets a cold it can turn into pneumonia. It’s a 24/7 worry. People don’t have a clue what it takes even to care for someone with COPD.” Shirley is joining forces with her son Mark, 39, who is also a dancer, to judge Dancing With The Stars: The Next Pro, which starts in the US in July. She says: “We took my mother to New York to watch her grandson as he’s currently the lead in Chicago on Broadway, and we had to disinfect every single thing she touched. “The cough is bad, but it’s gotten worse. She’s wheezing constantly. And she chokes. She has to sit down all the time and rest. It’s never going to get better.” She’s calling on the government to act. “We need money for NHS research. COPD patients are costing the NHS, they’re taking a bed. But if they’re diagnosed and monitored, there would be less going to A&E. COPD takes away the quality of life and care is a bit of a postcode lottery. My mum has me and lots of people in and out of the house, but some people don’t have that kind of care, they don’t have relatives who give a crap. People need care, they need to be diagnosed, the government needs to do more.” She also urges the government to relook at the assisted dying bill, which was blocked last month by the House of Lords. “I’ve known many people to be sick, dying of cancer. And I think if there’s absolutely no chance of life anymore, you’re going to die in two years and it’s a slow, painful death, you should have the right to choose,” says Shirley. “I do also understand that there can be family issues, things can go wrong. But I’m talking about the people who have got no hope, the ones who have been told they’re going to die, the ones living in misery because they’re so sick. Why should we pump them full of painkillers when they have a choice to go in peace? So I believe it’s not a bad thing, if it’s monitored properly. If my mother told me, let’s say her cancer returned and the COPD got worse, and she wanted to do that then I’d be in support of that.” *Shirley supports the Breathe Equal campaign with Sanofi and will be attending Chelsea Flower Show 2026 to support Asthma & Lung UK’s Breathing Space Garden. For more information on COPD visit asthmaandlung.org.uk