Dame Darcey Bussell freaked out when she started to get "stiff."
The ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ judge retired from ballet – a sport she’d done since before her teens – in 2007 with a performance at the Royal Opera House in London in order to focus on being a mother to her two daughters Phoebe, 16, and Zoe, 14.
But she quickly realised that her body was starting to seize up and she could no longer bend down without getting aches and pains shooting through her lower back.
Speaking on ‘This Morning’ on Friday (12.01.18), Darcey said when asked by Eamonn Holmes whether she worried about turning into a "porker" when she gave up dance: "It’s an awful thing when you give up something that’s so ingrained in your body. Why would I stop it? And you do stop because it’s not a job anymore and suddenly I take up my routine as a mum which I love but I certainly realised that I was missing something – I was missing those endorphins – I need to keep moving, my body needs it and I worked out very quickly that I didn’t enjoy getting stiff, tight and bending over and getting back pain and suddenly I realised my body was stiffening up and going solid."
But dancing has had somewhat of a negative effect on her body as the 48-year-old choreographer has had two operations on her ankle, torn her hamstring, snapped the anterior cruciate ligament in her knee and in 2014 had her hip resurfaced.
She added: "I had a resurfacing. I have no cartilage."
And, although she’s no longer dancing professionally, Darcey launched a dance fitness brand called DDMIX (Diverse dance mix) back in 2016 because she wants to stay in shape.
She explained: "It’s all about getting out of breath. For me it’s all about well-being and the endorphins that lift you and that’s what I need. It’s just keeping my body strong and supple. I do it about twice a week."
Dame Darcey Bussell went ‘stiff’ after retirement
