Louise Redknapp 'begged' to leave Strictly Come Dancing and even considered faking injury

Louise Redknapp has revealed that she begged her agent to pull her out of after a crisis of confidence.

The former Eternal star, now 50, competed on the 2016 series with her professional partner Kevin Clifton. The duo went to on to come second in the contest after they were narrowly pipped to the post by and Joanne Clifton.

But in a surprising admission, Louise - who had enjoyed global fame as one quarter of chart topping girlband Eternal in the 1990s as well as an illustrious solo career - had a huge wobble not long after the competition got underway.

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Speaking on the podcast, she said: "I was looking at the other girls and they were shaking their bums and I literally came off the first show, rung my agent and went ‘You’ve got to get me out of here'."

She even suggested that he lie to the press, suggesting, “This week you can pretend I’ve broken an ankle.”

Louise had taken some time away from work to focus on raising her two sons with ex-husband Jamie Redknapp, Beau and Charley, and admitted that being on the show made her realise that her “muscle memory for being in the limelight” was gone.

She added: “The fear had come in and I think when I was younger, I was completely fearless. I gave everything a go.

"That element of confidence and fearlessness – that had gone. Walking down that opening show and seeing, like, some of the other females in the show and they had their little dresses on and they were so confident.

Aged 42 at the time, Louise felt intimidated by the show's confident and lithe troupe of pro dancers, and not even her well-deserved crown of FHM's Sexiest Woman of the 1990s could help her believe in herself.

She said: "Week one comes, I'm at the top of the stairs, all the other girls have got a sparkly little outfit on, little knickers, high heels. I have got white jazz shoes and a sailors outfit in red."

The contrast made her think to herself, “I am definitely not the sexiest woman of the decade anymore.”

Despite the nerves, Louise became one of the most exciting dancers of the series, and amassed an army of new fans. But less than a year later, her marriage to ex-footballer Jamie crumbled. The duo split up in 2017 after nearly two decades together.

Talking about the public scrutiny which followed her divorce, Louise revealed the onslaught of criticism made coping an even greater challenge. She confided that without her sons the struggle might have been insurmountable.

"I think for me, the lowest, pretty much a person could get to, just horrendous," she said. "I could never see a way out from how bad and low I felt at the time. If I didn't have my kids, I think I would've just given up, like I really do. I think I just knew that my kids were my everything and they needed me."

Meanwhile, Louise's love life has turned a new page as she is currently linked with businessman Drew Michael, with the romance sparking up towards the end of 2023.

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