- Have YOU got a story? Email tips@dailymail.com
Former Strictly professional Oti Mabuse has defended her decision to leave her daughter to star in the jungle, insisting: ‘Mum has goals as well.’
The 34-year-old star, who will appear on I’m A Celeb for at least two weeks, said: ‘She won’t remember it, it’s just a couple of days.’
It comes 13 months after her only child’s ‘traumatic’ birth in which she was born 28 weeks premature and had to spend six weeks in the ICU.
The professional dancer continued: ‘I think it’s nice for her to see mum is fully committed and loves her so much but also wants to do what she wants to do.
‘Mum has goals as well, and I think it’s something as mums, we can all kind of be proud of, that we can be these incredible human beings as well as accomplish our goals or do things that are fun for us.
Former Strictly professional Oti Mabuse defends her decision to leave her daughter, 13 months at home, while she flies to Australia to star in I’m A Celebrity…
The 34-year-old star, who will appear on I’m A Celeb for at least two weeks, said: ‘She won’t remember it, it’s just a couple of days’ (pictured with her daughter)
‘And when she grows up, she’ll Google me, and she’ll probably see it and be like, Yeah, my mum did that.’
The sister of Strictly’s judge, Motsi Mabuse, who hails from South Africa revealed she had been asked six times by ITV to appear on the show but chose this year before her daughter becomes too old to leave behind.
She said: ‘I’ll probably never do it again. I’ll never get another opportunity to do it again. I’d love to grow my family. I’d like to do other things. And so this was the year for me to do it, and it just felt right.’
Ms Mabuse is the only professional dancer to have won Strictly Come Dancing two years in a row, first in 2019 with soap star, Kelvin Fletcher and in 2020 with the comedian, Bill Bailey.
After seven years on the show, Ms Mabuse quit the BBC flagship show in 2022 because she wanted to to pursue more presenting roles but also revealed her struggles behind the Strictly scenes.
Praising her husband of ten years for sticking by her while she was on the show, Ms Mabuse said: ‘He’s seen me not eat, he’s seen me overeat, he’s seen me having to deal with interesting personalities.
‘I got to the point where I was like, ‘I think I’m finished,’ and he was like, ‘Yeah I think there’s this new thing that’s got a fire in your stomach. When you’re hosting or talking to people you’re a completely different person.’
Since quitting, Ms Mobuse has shifted her alliance to ITV, having appeared on the judging panel for the network’s major shows such as Dancing on Ice and the Masked Singer.
It comes 13 months after her only child’s ‘traumatic’ birth in which she was born 28 weeks premature and had to spend six weeks in the ICU
The professional dancer continued: ‘I think it’s nice for her to see mum is fully committed and loves her so much but also wants to do what she wants to do’
And now she will enter the I’m A Celebrity jungle this Sunday.
Previously admitting her preference for ITV, she said: ‘I was really lucky at that point that just after winning my second title [on Strictly], ITV their arms were open and they were like, ‘Hey, come in.’
‘So when I was jumping, there was somewhere to land. Even though I left, there was this whole world, a new family, that had opened doors for me and that’s luck and I have to be honest about that, I have to be grateful for that.’