In an exclusive shoot and interview with Hello! magazine, Strictly Come Dancing contender Vick Hope has revealed that she only stopped straightening her trademark curly hair a year ago. Vick explained: "There is a level of confidence you need before the day comes when you realise that what makes you different is really the greatest thing. When I was growing up all I ever wanted was straight hair as you want to be the same as everyone else but then last summer a hairdresser friend said, 'let's stop straightening this and keep it curly', and I've never looked back."
Vick and Graziano dancing on Strictly
And she says she sees the Duchess of Sussex as a great role model. She told Hello!: "If I had been younger now as a mixed race girl, and I had seen someone who looked like me marrying into the royal family, it would have given me a level of validation, a feeling that you can be whatever you want to be. I think she is a great role model. She uses her voice to speak about things she really cares about."
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In the interview, she also says that her parents had to go out and buy their first television set so they could watch her compete on the show. "My mum and dad went out and bought a TV just two weeks ago so they could watch me on Strictly," she revealed. "When I was growing up we didn’t have TV in our house which is perhaps why I work in TV because it seemed such a mythical thing!" The television and radio presenter was last year picked as one of Hello! magazine’s rising stars of 2018. And she said she couldn’t believe how far she had come. "I feel like HELLO! is on this journey with me," she smiles, "And I am having the time of life. I don't think there's a happier place than when you're dancing and feeling the music."
Read the full article in HELLO! out now.
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