Shirley Ballas was inundated with support from fans after she shared a very poignant tribute to her late brother David on Tuesday.
The ballroom legend, 63, remembered her sibling 20 years after he passed away – he died by suicide in 2003 aged 44.
The Strictly judge took to Instagram during the day, and shared a gallery of pictured of herself with David.
She accompanied the snaps with an emotional caption and wrote: ’20 years ago today my dearest brother David took his own life. I lost my brother, my protector and my best friend. I’ll remember the dreaded knock on the front door forever. I can still picture the police officers standing there and I just knew something was wrong.’
‘“Mrs Rich” they said. I stepped aside and my mother stepped forward. From that moment, our worlds came crashing down. How time flies dearest David. Where have the years gone… you are truly missed on a daily basis.’
Shirley Ballas was left overwhelmed by support from fans after sharing a poignant tribute to her late brother David 20 years after he died, (pictured left)
The ballroom legend, 63, remembered her dear sibling – he died by suicide in 2003. aged 44
The former dancer continued her heartfelt caption: ‘I’ll never really know why you went, but my mother and I talk about you often and you are never forgotten. Mary, your beautiful daughter, is doing you so very proud. She is strong, beautiful and she brings us so much joy.’
‘My work for @calmzone and @suicideandco will continue with you in the forefront of my mind. My Skyathlon was for you David. I zip lined, wing walked and I skydived for you David.’
She went on: ‘I’ll continue to support others who are in dark places as I have learnt over the years there is light at the end of the tunnel. Continue to rest in peace David. Mum and I miss you so very much.’
Finishing off, Shirley added some useful contacts: ‘For anyone struggling, please reach out in confidence to @calmzone on 0800 58 58 58. And for family and friends who need support after loosing a loved one, please reach out to @suicideandco’s counselling service on 0800 054 8400.’
Fans and friends rushed to comment below Shirley’s heart-wrenching post, showing her support.
Aussie pro dancer Dianne Buswell said: ‘Sending love ❤️.’
Celebrity pals Ashley Roberts and James Jordan shared plenty of red hearts and praying emoji, as well as Kai Widdrington.
More of her fellow Strictly co-stars proved their emotional support as Claudia Winkleman added a slew of hearts emoji, and pro dancer Graziano Di Prima shared the same alongside some crying emoji.
The Strictly judge took to Instagram and shared a slew of old pictured of herself and David
She accompanied the snaps with a lengthy, emotional caption as she said: ’20 years ago today my dearest brother David took his own life
She said: ‘I lost my brother, my protector and my best friend. I’ll remember the dreaded knock on the front door forever’
Recalling what happened, she said: ‘I can still picture the police officers standing there and I just knew something was wrong”
Shirley said: ‘Mary, your beautiful daughter, is doing you so very proud. She is strong, beautiful and she brings us so much joy’
It’s clear that Shirley’s brother meant an awful lot to her
Fans and friends rushed to comment below Shirley’s heart-wrenching post, showing her lots of support
Suicide&Co organisation’s account penned: ‘Sending so much love to you and your loved ones today and always, Shirley. Know that we are here for you and anyone affected by suicide loss. We are so proud to work with you to spread the message that everyone has permission to grieve.’
Anti-suicide campaign CalmZone also wrote below Shirley’s post: ‘We’re thinking of you and your family today, Shirley.
‘Thank you for everything you continue to do for CALM. You’ve made a life-saving difference in memory of David.’
One fan related to the star’s loss, and said: ‘I lost my best friend just over 10 years ago, and it still feels like yesterday. I’m so sorry Shirley, sending you so much love ❤️ grief is not linear at all.’
Shirley recently revealed the method she’s put in place to deal with an ‘overwhelming’ amount of trolling.
The ballroom sensation considered not returning for Strictly Come Dancing 2023 series after an extortionate amount of hate from vile trolls online.
Shirley joined the judging panel as head judge in 2017, replacing the late Len Goodman.
But while she called her role the ‘icing on the cake’ to her career, the abuse that has come alongside it has been extremely difficult to deal with.
She told the Sunday Times: ‘This is my seventh series as head judge.
‘I think I’m getting stronger as the years go by but the trolling got to me last year: it was bad. I think I was just overwhelmed.
‘This year I’ve taken on a young man called Harry who does all my social media, which is proving to be just fabulous.’
Employing someone else to manage her social media accounts means that Shirley has not been scrolling through the negative comments.
Shirley, from Merseyside, competed professionally in ballroom dancing from age 15 to 36, before becoming a dance coach and judge.
Social media messages aimed at her – many of them threatening or sexual in nature – meant she was scared to leave her own home and left her fearing that people are ‘lurking in dark corners or hiding behind walls’.
Appearing on Olivia Attwood vs The Trolls in October, she said: ‘I’ve had people draw coffins with me in it with somebody with a spade that said, ‘Die you b**ch’.
‘It’s when it is personal about myself and my family and it affects my mental health. I am not just talking about your phone.’
Though she eventually returned for the 2023 series, Shirley has hinted that she considered not coming back following the torrent of vile online abuse she received during the last series.
In a candid interview, she indicated the previous series may have been her last as she’d hit an ‘all-time low’ after the abuse ‘snowballed out of control’.
The ballroom dancer told how she was constantly left in tears after every show and struggled in silence, telling how it was ‘the most negativity’ she had ever faced.
She told the Mirror: ‘Last year I was struggling. It wasn’t just a little bit, it was a lot – the majority of it was in silence. I felt the abuse snowballed out of control and impacted me in such a negative way. I’m a pretty stoic person, and I tend to hold everything in.’
She explained that when the abuse began, it seemed ‘larger than anything else’, with the star telling how it left her ‘crying and emotional’, while she was ’embarrassed’ about how she felt and didn’t confide in anyone.
Shirley added: ‘And that was an all-time low since I joined the show – it was the most negativity I’d ever experienced. The BBC were brilliant, checking in on me and offering counselling and support.’
When asked if she’d considered quitting Strictly, she replied: ‘It was a difficult series, I’ll leave it at that… Will I go back to Strictly? I always take one step at a time.’
She went on to say that she ‘absolutely loved’ her job and if it was just down to her judging with none of the trolling involved, it would be the most ‘rewarding’ job she could think of to do.
The Queen of Latin went on to say that after Strictly finished in 2022, she to a ‘break’ from TV for ‘re-focus’ on her own industry as well as to ‘protect her sanity’.
Shirley joined the judging panel as head judge in 2017, replacing the late Len Goodman (pictured L to R with fellow judges Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse and Anton Du Beke)
She revealed the shocking extent of the messages she received – of which one in five were hateful – saying that the thousands of comments she got whenever she sent someone home were ‘truly awful’.
She added that she was accused of not liking young people or old, men or women, noting that it ‘didn’t matter’ what she’d do, she could ‘never win’.
However, she proudly said that she stood by her decisions and never ‘regretted’ sending anyone home based on how they performed in the dance off, noting she could ‘sleep at night’ with her choices.
