Shirley Ballas is to take a break from showbusiness after Strictly – because of vile web trolls.
The show’s head judge is so sick of relentless abuse she has even ditched panto this Christmas.
Shirley, 62, said: “The names I’ve been called, I couldn’t even repeat them to you.”
She can accept fans disagreeing with her opinions of star contestants on Strictly but personal insults about her appearance have left her feeling low.
Shirley said: “It makes you worry – ‘Do I look right? Am I too heavy?’ They say, ‘Cover up your bingo arms’, then it makes you think, ‘Should I wear a dress with sleeves?’
“One person said, ‘Your ears are too big’, so I got a tape measure out and measured my ears.
“Others say I look like I have a glass eye – that’s probably because I wear one lens.
“It’s just mean. I’ve been in this industry for 50 years. I’ve got awards for everything that I’ve done.
“Then to get somebody that thinks I don’t understand what I’m talking about…”
Shirley says her partner Danny Taylor, 48, tells her to stay off social media while her Strictly co-judge Craig Revel Horwood, 57, urges her to take no notice. Speaking at the TV Choice Awards, the mum-of-one said: “Craig says let it go, it’s not a big deal but to me it’s a big deal.
“I think that comes from being a young girl from a housing estate. You’re always trying to prove yourself.
“You just want to do the best job for the people watching.
“And when it’s not reciprocated and they say I didn’t agree with your mark, you sent the wrong person home, I’m fine with that.
“But when it gets personal then I think that’s cruel.”
The Merseyside-born dance star, who took over as head judge when Len Goodman, 78, left in 2017, praised show bosses for helping her cope with the insults.
She said: “The BBC have been phenomenal. They do offer support, they offer counselling. They have been there for me all the time, they chat to me every week.
“I want people to be kind to each other. But this is a TV reality show and at the end of the day 15 million people have the final say.
“And if you put two people in the bottom two we have to send somebody home.”
Shirley does not plan to repeat her stint as the Wicked Queen in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, last Christmas.
She added: “I’m going to take some time off as soon as Strictly’s finished and collect myself and see what I want to do with myself next year. It’s been quite difficult.”
