Shirley Ballas has given fans a rare update on her mother Audrey's health, as she continues to battle cancer at the age of 83.
Talking live on HELLO! magazine's Friday night Instagram show HELLO! Let's Gab, Strictly's Shirley told presenter Gaby Roslin that the pair, who usually spend a lot of time together, were actually self-isolating separately because that's how Audrey had wanted it.
WATCH SHIRLEY BALLAS TALK ABOUT HER MOTHER AUDREY
"My mother is self-isolating up north, she didn't want to come down and self-isolate with me," she revealed.
The 60-year-old dancer later added: "My mum has cancer, she's self-isolating. I have to say, I got very cross with BT today. Somehow her phone line has been off for nine days, I've called every single day, they have not helped, she's vulnerable, she's 83 years of age but they assure me that it will be on by Tuesday. That's ten days without a phone.
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"You know, you worry about your parents when they are in their eighties, what if they fall? How do they alert a neighbour if they don't have a phone?"
© Photo: InstagramDescribing her mother, Shirley continued: "But my mum, if I call her, she is your inevitable bright, 'I'm in the garden, I'm cleaning the windows, I'm doing the washing, I'm changing the beds.' She is bright as a button. You will never hear out of my mother a negative word and I take that from her. It's important to be honest but no one wants to listen to Debbie Downers all the time, there's enough of her in the world, you know?"
Shirley first talked about her mum's cancer diagnosis in November 2018, revealing that she had decided not to have chemotherapy. Confirming the news to The Mirror, she said: "She was diagnosed earlier this year. But she’s a trouper and we are dealing with it.
“I came over to her in the summer to take care of her and I had to learn to be a nurse."
