In an exclusive shoot and interview with HELLO! magazine, Catherine Tyldesley says that competing on Strictly Come Dancing helped her overcome a tough bout of low self-esteem. The former Coronation Street star said: "I was lacking in confidence and I didn't feel comfortable in my own skin. That's not a nice feeling."
Speaking during a holiday with her husband Tom Pitfield, 33, and their four-year-old son Alfie at Dubai's Le Royal Méridien Beach Resort & Spa, she added: "Strictly showed me how to learn to love my body again. I became much more confident in myself and more grateful for what I can achieve. It's made me want to push myself even more."
"Strictly showed me how to learn to love my body again," said Catherine
She also says that training for the show helped her with the debilitating back problems she was suffering with last year, which meant she was unable to go to the gym as much as she would like. "I hadn't been able to train as much as usual so I felt out of shape," she says. "Mentally and physically that really affected me.
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"My core has improved a lot as I had to use it all the time when dancing and it's helped my posture. A couple of problems I was having with my back have improved massively thanks to the ballroom hold. Everything that my physio had been trying to get me to do for months we were implementing when we were dancing."
The couple said they would love to expand their family
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In the interview ahead of the forthcoming Strictly Come Dancing Live Tour, where she will be reunited with pro-dancer Johannes Radebe, Catherine also says that she and Tom would love to expand their family. "We would love to – at least one more," she says. "Absolutely, when the time feels right."
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Pick up this week's issue of HELLO! out on Tuesday for the full interview.
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