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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Entertainment
Charlotte McLaughlin

Ex-Strictly star Oti Mabuse announces birth of first child in Christmas post

The former Strictly Come Dancing star Oti Mabuse has given birth to her first child.

The Dancing On Ice judge, 33, shared the news in a Christmas post with photos of her and her husband Marius Lepure in festive jumpers, their baby in her arms and a Christmas tree in the background.

She wrote: “Merry Christmas. Wishing you all a wonderful festive season and special memories with loved ones.”

Ms Mabuse previously said the couple had struggled to conceive and eventually decided to stop trying because it “just got too much”.

The South African was the dance partner of Mr Lepure after she left Pretoria in 2012 for Nuremberg, Germany, and together they competed for Germany in show dance Latin.

She was a Strictly Come Dancing professional before she left the show in 2022.

Ms Mabuse won the celebrity dance show in 2019 and 2020 with Emmerdale actor Kelvin Fletcher and comedian Bill Bailey, respectively, and last competed with former rugby player Ugo Monye.

She replaced Doctor Who star John Barrowman as a judge on ITV’s Dancing On Ice last year.

Her sister Motsi, 42, had been a judge on the German version of Strictly, Let’s Dance, before joining the BBC series as a judge in 2019, replacing Dame Darcey Bussell.

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