Why we should all step back and cut fragile Will Young some slack for quitting stressful Strictly
It’s well documented that the singer suffers from anxiety and has had to deal with depression in past
IT HAS been suggested that Will Young flounced out of Strictly after a bust-up with Len Goodman, and also because he was peeved at receiving low marks from the judges.
While it may be true that he wasn’t at all happy with his scores and didn’t take kindly to criticism, I don’t think Will should be dismissed as an uppity diva.
It’s well documented that he suffers from anxiety and has had to deal with depression in the past.
These conditions can make you react to stressful situations in a way that, to the outside world, may seem illogical and self-destructive.
And let’s face it, things don’t get much more anxious and stressful for a performer then having to twinkle-toe your way through an intricate routine in front of a live studio audience, as well as all of us at home, sitting with our wine and crisps, carping at the costumes and footwork.
No wonder Will felt overwhelmed.
I spoke to him while he was rehearsing for Strictly and he was like a cheeky schoolboy, full of glee and enthusiasm and raring to get on the dancefloor.
It also emerged that he had previous experience of dancing, which is probably why the judges were tougher on him and expected a lot more from his performance
Lorraine Kelly
He genuinely loved the show and was chuffed to bits to be asked to take part, and from the moment this year’s line-up was announced, Will was one of the bookies’ favourites to win.
It also emerged that he had previous experience of dancing, which is probably why the judges were tougher on him and expected a lot more from his performances.
Will might come across as supremely confident but he is fragile and suffers from low self-esteem.
He has had problems with booze in the past and hit an all-time low in 2012, suffering a full-blown breakdown.
This is yet another example of how mental illness can strike even the most hugely successful people who appear to have it all.
No one ever really knows someone else’s true state of mind or what goes on behind closed doors.
It’s a real shame because Will is a funny, bright and hugely entertaining young man who had a chance to shine on one of our top TV shows.
Some of you will remember that he famously took on the might of Simon Cowell when he won Pop Idol, the cheap and cheerful forerunner of The X Factor, back in 2002.
Maybe he thought that answering back to the Strictly judges was the way to get the public on his side. Big mistake.
Strictly is a completely different animal, more like a contented domestic pussycat than a fierce wild tiger.
The chippy banter that worked with Simon was never going to go down well with the Strictly panel who want the celebrities and professional dancers to be seen and not heard, unless it is to breathlessly agree with their words of wisdom.
Len was irked and you could clearly see he thought Will was being impertinent which was why he slapped him down so firmly, telling him to “show up, keep up and shut up”.
Will has reportedly lost a massive £20,000 of his £25,000 fee for walking out, and feathers have been ruffled in the usually polite Strictly world, but I’m sure he is more upset about it than anyone else.
Of course, bosses will be cross at having to redraw their strategy for the whole series, although they were swift to rule out bringing back EastEnders actress Tameka Empson who was inexplicably voted off last week, and there will be another celebrity leaving the show tomorrow night as originally planned.
Will’s dancing partner Karen Clifton has been diplomatic but she must be fuming at missing her chance to go further in the competition and maybe even get her hands on the famous Glitterball trophy.
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And viewers who love the show will also feel cheated about Will deciding to quit.
It’s career suicide to walk away from a show like Strictly but when you are in the grip of anxiety you can’t think straight.
And if Will was indeed suffering from those feelings again, he probably believed he didn’t have any other choice.
I reckon we should all cut him a bit of slack and hope he bounces back.
Priscilla deserves kindness
PRISCILLA PRESLEY has come in for some horribly cruel criticism after appearing on my show this week.
Twitter trolls called her “Frankenstein’s monster” and likened her to the villainous Joker in the Batman movies.
This is just so unfair.
Priscilla, above, is 71 years old and was the victim of botched plastic surgery many years ago when it was alleged a bogus surgeon injected industrial low-grade silicon into her delicate face.
The results were shocking and ruined her flawless skin and perfect bone structure.
It’s easy to say that Priscilla was foolish to place her trust in a charlatan and undergo these procedures when she was so beautiful to begin with – but the world of entertainment is unkind to women of a certain age.
For every Meryl Streep growing old with grace and dignity, there are a thousand insecure starlets having surgery that turns them into a surprised shiny boiled egg.
Priscilla’s face might look as though a priceless painting has been slashed by a criminal yobbo but she paid a high price to try to retain her youthful looks and doesn’t deserve such revolting insults.
Show some kindness and leave her be.
Arterton a real Gem
GEMMA ARTERTON looked like a goddess this week in a glorious scarlet dress that perfectly showed off her effortless elegance.
She was promoting her latest movie, the World War Two film Their Finest and, as always, her style was pitch perfect.
Now, I came in for a lot of stick when I celebrated the fact that Gemma looks like a “normal” woman instead of the usual stick-thin Hollywood waifs with their sunken cheeks and hungry eyes.
I take it back.
There’s nothing “normal” about our Gemma.
She’s a one-off.
Bright, beautiful and in a red-hot class of her very own.
OUR very own David Oyelowo should have taken home an Oscar last year for his searing portrayal of Martin Luther King in Selma.
It was a masterful performance that never ventured into caricature or a mere impersonation but showed Dr King to be a flawed human being as well as a giant of a man.
Scandalously, David, above, wasn’t even nominated for the Best Actor accolade.
Perhaps if he had been, there wouldn’t have been as much of a furore over the lack of diversity at this year’s award ceremony in February.
I sincerely hope that he isn’t overlooked in the next Oscars because so far this year David has turned in two cracking performances – once again involving true-life characters.
I sincerely hope that he isn’t overlooked in the next Oscars because so far this year David has turned in two cracking performances
He excels as the compassionate coach Robert Katende in Queen Of Katwe, an uplifting story of a young slum girl from Uganda who tries to escape poverty through her love of chess.
And watching A United Kingdom, I was moved to tears by his dignified portrayal of Seretse Khama, the first president of Botswana, who fell in love with a white British woman in the late 1940s. The couple had to overcome hideous prejudice from their families, as well as the British establishment, and their love for each other was sorely tested.
These two movies have much in common.
As well as being true stories, they are both set in Africa and both are directed by women.
Mira Nair took the helm for Queen Of Katwe and Amma Asante for A United Kingdom.
It will be shameful if these talented directors, their movies and the actors involved are overlooked at the Oscars, or included simply because of political correctness.
They deserve to be there on merit.
Time to Gwyn 'n' bear it
GWYNETH PALTROW is someone who has the ability to set people’s teeth on edge while simultaneously putting their backs up.
As irksome as the nerve-shredding sound of sharp fingernails on a blackboard, she comes across as insufferably smug, horribly condescending and an all-round smarty pants.
I am, however, warming to the human equivalent of Antarctica.
This week, Gwynnie displayed a sense of humour as well as a previously hidden self-awareness that was actually very endearing.
She revealed that her late and much-loved father Bruce pointedly told his daughter that she was becoming a pain in the bum, after she won an Oscar in 1999 for Shakespeare In Love.
...She comes across as insufferably smug, horribly condescending and an all-round smarty pants.
Bruce told the preening actress, who was all puffed up with self-importance, that she was getting a little weird and actually called her an ar*ehole.
Gwyneth, below, was understandably crushed but took his words to heart and tried to change her behaviour.
Of course, as we all know, she has continued to show weird tendencies over the years since her dad sadly died.
But I like to think that when she is being particularly annoying, she remembers his words and saves herself from completely tipping over the edge and disappearing up her aforementioned bum.