Strictly Come Dancing head judge Shirley Ballas' second marriage to Corky ended in divorce after he embarked on a relationship with one of his dance students
Shirley Ballas, the head judge of Strictly Come Dancing, saw her second marriage to Corky Ballas crumble when he began a relationship with a former star of the show. Shirley, 64, married American ballroom dancer Corky in 1985, a year after her first marriage to Sammy Stopford ended.
The couple relocated to Houston, USA, and had their first child, Mark Ballas, who later became a professional on Dancing With the Stars. However, their marriage ended in 2007 amidst Corky's affair with his dance student, Kristina Rihanoff, who was nearly a decade his junior.
Despite the five-year affair, Shirley maintains that it started after she and Corky had separated but before they divorced. Shirley, who joined Strictly as head judge in 2017, holds no resentment towards Kristina, who left the BBC programme before Shirley replaced Len Goodman.
"I've had lunch with Kristina. I'm a people person. I love people," she told The Daily Star in 2017. When questioned about whether Kristina's return to Strictly would cause any problems, she responded: "It would be absolutely fine. I have no issues with anybody being on the show at all."
The dancer Kristina Rihanoff has certainly been no stranger to controversy, given her track record of romances with her celebrity partners on the dance floor. She first made waves in the tabloids back in 2009, while partnered with the ex-boxer Joe Calzaghe; a partnership that lasted until 2013, reports the Mirror.
That very year, she was under the spotlight again after partnering with former England rugby star Ben Cohen, who famously left his wife for Rihanoff.
Meanwhile, Shirley Ballas, also familiar with misfortunes in matters of heart, has recently ended her six-year relationship with actor and fellow dancer Danny Taylor, aged 51. The twist came after their engagement in 2021; Shirley disclosed just six months ago that they had broken off their engagement, yet stayed united as a couple.
However, sources like The Sun suggest it was their demanding schedules and distance-Shirley residing in London and Danny based out of Liverpool-that led to their split.
Their romance kindled back in 2018 when they both were cast in Jack and the Beanstalk, and Shirley admitted to it being love at first sight for her, despite the fact that Danny was already in another relationship at the time. "We met on panto as friends. It didn't really take off until March... for him. I fell in love way before... I think for me it was [at] first sight. He was going through a difficult time in his relationship," she recalled.
Shirley Ballas shared a light-hearted moment about her relationship, revealing: "We did become friends and then probably in about February I said, 'I love you Danny' and he said, 'I know'. It took a while," she quipped. The Strictly head judge also robustly refuted rumours of a split with Danny in June following the cancellation of their engagement, clarifying that she had merely "changed her mind" about another marriage after two previous walks down the aisle.
