Debbie McGee has opened up about how she struggled with her mood after completing Strictly Come Dancing in 2017. The TV personality, who tragically lost her husband, magician Paul Daniels, in 2016, admitted that she grew anxious for her family and friends and struggled to get out of bed for a time after completing the Strictly tour.
© Photo: Getty ImagesDebbie and Giovanni on Strictly
Chatting to the Daily Mail, she explained: "It didn't come immediately after Strictly… Then around March — a difficult month because Paul died in March, his birthday is in March, our anniversary is in March — I got home, and I just stopped. I didn't want to get out of bed. I couldn't make a cup of tea. Part of it must have been sheer physical exhaustion, but there was more to it. I changed. My brain had changed. I've always been the most optimistic person. If I'm feeling low I can look in the mirror and say, 'Come on, Debbie, let's do this. Put on your make-up and smile.' Suddenly I couldn't."
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The 59-year-old added: "I got anxious, in a way I have never been anxious before. I started to worry about everyone around me getting ill, dying. We really had had a terrible run of ill-health in the family. It wasn't just Paul. My dad died not long before Paul. My nephew was diagnosed with cancer. My niece's husband died - of a brain tumour, too. He was in his 20s." Debbie danced on the show with Giovanni Pernice, and recently revealed that she felt an attraction to the 27-year-old. Chatting on Loose Women, she said: "We both have the same sense of humour. When we met on Strictly, Giovanni and I clicked we made each other laugh from the first day of rehearsals."
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