Strictly’s Kristina Rihanoff: ‘I saved my mum from an overdose’

Strictly Come Dancing’s Kristina Rihanoff has revealed how she saved her mum from taking her own life

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by Fiona Day |
Published on

Kristina Rihanoff’s life might appear to be a dazzle of sparkles and sequins onstage, but in reality her past is much darker.

In her new autobiography Dancing out of Darkness, the 38-year-old spoke out about her difficult childhood.

She revealed that her mother struggled with alcohol and depression after she lost her job and went through a divorce.

Kristina says: “It was a horrible time. At 13 years old I felt completely alone and I was dealing with a mother who was an alcoholic. I will never forgive my dad for that — he should have been responsible.

Kristina found an escape through dancing 
Kristina found an escape through dancing 

“All he would do was yell and shout that she was an embarrassment to him and herself because she was a drunk. How was that going to help a sick person?”

Kristina used her painful home life as a catalyst to channel her energies in her dance career.

She said she found escape with dancing, writing: “No one at dance school knew what my home life was like, so in a way I felt free.

“You can’t think about anything other than what you are doing, the steps you are making right at that moment, so it was a way I could escape into a different world.”

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