Strictly star gives update to fans after being hospitalised from glass table fall

Shirley Ballas, the head judge on Strictly Come Dancing, has reassured fans she is "feeling much better" after a frightening fall that saw her hospitalised.

The 65-year-old reportedly hit her head on a glass table during the incident on Saturday.

While she sustained injuries to her neck and back, Ms Ballas confirmed that her skull was not fractured. Taking to Instagram on Sunday, she expressed gratitude for the medical care she received.

"Just trying to get everything sorted, and grateful for the nurses, the doctors and my friends who helped me with everything, so feeling in my head much better today, and grateful, and need to rest," she posted.

She added a note of caution, saying, "All those things that perhaps one doesn’t do because we’re always running around, and never sit on a stool with a cushion."

Ms Ballas indicated she would share a demonstration of how she fell from the stool, stressing that people "need to be careful". She plans to "take it easy for 72 hours," after which she expects to feel "right as rain" and "like a new woman".

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In her initial Instagram update on Saturday, she detailed the "scary fall backwards hitting my head on the glass dressing table," which necessitated a hospital visit for a brain scan.

"Fortunately for me no cracked skull," she confirmed, thanking fellow professional dancer Barbara McColl for arranging an emergency appointment and her ex-husband Sammy Stopford for accompanying her.

Ms Ballas is scheduled to join fellow judges Anton Du Beke and Craig Revel Horwood for the Strictly Come Dancing live tour, which commences next week and features 30 shows running until 15 February.

The Wirral-born star joined Strictly in 2017, making her debut as head judge that September. Beyond her television role, Ms Ballas is a prominent advocate for male suicide awareness and men’s mental health, a cause close to her heart after her brother’s death by suicide in 2003. She serves as an ambassador for charities Campaign Against Living Miserably and Suicide&Co.

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Last August, Ms Ballas revealed she would "never feel completely safe again" following a stalking incident where she was accused of killing a family member. She has also actively raised awareness for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) since her mother, Audrey, was diagnosed with the condition in 2022.