Shirley Ballas: I will be a glam-ma rather than grandma when son welcomes baby

Shirley Ballas has said she will be a “glam-ma” rather than a grandma when her son Mark welcomes his first child.

The Strictly Come Dancing judge has shared her excitement at meeting her first grandchild.

Mark, who is a professional dancer on the US version of Strictly, Dancing With The Stars, and his wife BC Jean announced in June that they are expecting a baby.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Ballas said: “I’m going to be a glam-ma for the first time.

“His beautiful wife BC Jean, she’s six-and-a-half months pregnant and I couldn’t be more excited. Due around about October 29, I believe.”

Ballas said she and her mother will be travelling to Los Angeles to visit the couple for a few weeks and Ballas will continue travelling back and forth when the new series of Strictly starts.

She said: “I can fly on a Sunday. Len [Goodman, the former head judge] used to do that with Bruno [Tonioli], they’d fly on a Sunday and back on a Friday.

“My son is in Los Angeles so where there’s a will there’s a way, as with my challenges.”

Ballas will be embarking on a trio of challenges later this month to raise money for a suicide prevention charity in honour of her late brother, who took his own life.

She will do a Skyathlon challenge –  a zipline, a 700ft wing walk and 15,000ft skydive – despite her fear of heights.

She said: “About 20 years ago my brother took his own life, and it was tragic.

“My mother and I didn’t really realise that that was what was going to happen.

“Even a month ago I had a student, 38 years old, who also took her own life.

“I seem to be surrounded, some friends, and all the messages I’ve been getting on my Instagram, it’s affecting more people than we realise.

“I wouldn’t want anybody out there to experience what my mum and I have experienced through losing somebody to suicide.

“And I’ll tell you, it’s got no face. And it can happen to anybody at any age. And I just don’t want people to feel that.

“So I’m going to do these challenges particularly for everybody out there and hopefully they will donate to this magnificent Calm charity, Campaigning Against Living Miserably.”

See thecalmzone.net for support and advice and justgiving.com/campaign/skyathlon for Ballas’s campaign.