Debbie McGee, 61, was partnered with professional dancer Giovanni Pernice, 28, on Strictly Come Dancing last year and the pair reached the finals. Following her stint on the show, Debbie admitted she “changed” and wasn’t hopeful about the future. She told the The Daily Mail: “It didn’t come immediately after Strictly. “I did panto afterwards — God knows how I got through that, but I did. Then I went on tour with Strictly.
“Then around March — a difficult month because Paul died in March, his birthday is in March, our anniversary is in March — I got home, and I just stopped.”
The former magician’s assistant admitted she struggled to get out of bed and felt “anxious”.
Debbie continued: “I didn’t want to get out of bed. I couldn’t make a cup of tea.
“I got anxious, in a way I have never been anxious before. I started to worry about everyone around me getting ill, dying – I was having moments where I wasn’t looking forward to the future.”
Debbie’s late husband, Paul Daniels died in 2016 after it was discovered he had a brain tumour.
Meanwhile, Debbie has recently opened up about the show she wished she did not take part in, in an interview with The Guardian.
The age-defying beauty appeared on the reality television show Wife Swap in 2007 alongside her late husband Paul, for the celebrity version of the show.
The couple swapped lives with columnist, Vanessa Feltz and her partner Ben Ofeoedu.
Debbie told the publication: “It’s the only programme I’ve ever regretted doing. I could feel the manipulation.”
On the show it appeared Vanessa and Paul did not always see eye to eye after he wanted three cooked meals a day and complained Vanessa did not dress for supper like his wife Debbie.
However, Debbie admits Vannesa saw Paul as “brilliant and intelligent”.
She continued: “Even now, Vanessa says Paul is brilliant and intelligent. They were just very uncomfortable with each other.”
Wife Swap is a reality show where couples swap partners and the new wife must adhere to the same rules and lifestyle of the wife she is replacing.
The show first aired in the UK on Channel 4 in 2003 with the series being cancelled in 2009.