Alexandra Burke admits Strictly Come Dancing was an 'escape' during family heartache

During her time on , Alexandra Burke was suffering the worst heartache.

Each week, the chart-topper delighted the judging panel and viewers at home with her impressive moves which saw her bag a spot in the final. But unbeknownst to many, the singer, 36, was dealing with intense pain behind the scenes. Her beloved mother, soul and R&B singer Melissa Bell had previously been admitted to hospital and was dying. Melissa was suffering from kidney failure which had been caused by diabetes. Sadly,

Although admits her time on the One dance competition was "wonderful", despite putting in 12 hour days, she explained it was her escapism from dealing with such intense emotional pain. In a candid interview with the , the star who found fame on The said: "Being on Strictly was wonderful, in the sense of it was my escape at the time, mentally.

"I was going through a very tough time personally, my family and I. I loved being on that dance floor. The dance floor was my escape." Alexandra went on to add: "Learning these dances that we couldn't afford to learn in terms of being taught Latin and Ballroom – I was a street dancer, I'd learnt contemporary for GCSE's that was it. But Latin and Ballroom is so specific, I was really pleased that I got the opportunity to learn that on the show. My life long dream to learn something different got fulfilled because of that show."

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After a nail-biting final, Alexandra and Gorka placed second alongside Debbie McGee and Giovanni Pernice and actress and Aljaž Škorjanec, with Holby City's Joe McFadden winning the series with Katya Jones. Although she didn't win the show, the Islington-born actress and singer admits she often reflects on the skills she learnt.

"I do look back at some of the dances now, seven years later, then I go, 'Wow, I that was me,'" she said, adding: "It's like having an out of body experience when you watch it back. I can't believe I've done that. But the Jive, the Argentine Tango, I really am so proud of those dances because I never thought I'd be able to do them."

While some may complain about the long hours in the rehearsal space, Alexandra admits she was prepared to work harder in order to perfect each routine throughout her time on the show. "It's tough because you've got to work hard," she commented, before explaining that she was told the rehearsals would be 12 hours stretched over the week.

She added: "I was like 'I'll give you 12 hours a day!' And I did, I'm so tough on myself sometimes but I love it because I love work and I love people – I just love working really hard." But when Alexandra was competing on the fifteenth series of Stricly she was told to "smile more" as she didn't look "approachable" and nobody was "going to like" her.

Her latest partnership with Haliborange couldn't be closer to her heart as she helps inspire the next generation of performers. Alexandra said: "I take it back to when I was a 17-year-old and I went to the Lion King for the first time ever and saved my money to sit on those stalls and I will never forget, I was like 'Oh my goodness as a young woman of colour, I can see representation on stage and I can see people just like me.' It made me dream so big and not necessarily wanting to go down the theatre route at the time.

"It was more about 'Right' I could do this, I could be a singer.' It gave me so much inspiration to want to to want to do well and and like when you think of Haliborange and what they stand for with creating health habits and healthy lifestyle from a young age and stalling that into children and now as a mum of two, I couldn't ask them for more, I couldn't ask them for more in terms of being associated with a brand that believes in the same thing, because healthy lifestyle choices, they pave the way for hopefully a healthy life as you continue to grow, then when you could get Disney involved, it's like Disney's all about dreaming big and never giving up in your dreams, and anything is possible, and you put the two together, it's just magic."

Growing up, Alexandra's mum, soul singer Melissa Bell instilled in her that nothing was impossible. "When I sit back and I think about the opportunities that kids have, this is why the theatre dreams workshops is going to be so great for children during the half term, simply because they're going to have someone to go to from three years old to 11 is the age range that they can attend. That's the time you want to grab the children and go 'Come on, lets dream big, lets do this,'" she added.

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