Karen Clifton has admitted 'Strictly Come Dancing' damaged her marriage to Kevin Clifton.
Karen and Kevin Clifton
The 36-year-old dancer - who performed with her estranged husband on the show last night (22.09.18) - admitted the programme was the "glue" which held her and Kevin together but also kept them too busy to cope with the problems that had arisen in their relationship.
She said: "I found the split very hard to deal with and I panicked.
"We weren't perfect but we were a normal couple who began to have rocky moments and we didn't know how to handle it.
"'Strictly' was the glue that was keeping us together but it was also the workload that was leaving us with no time to communicate.
"To some, it's like 'Oh, you're both on television and living a glamorous life' but it wasn't at all like that.
"We were working from 6am until 11pm and by the time we got home there would be no time to do anything. There was no opportunity for us to connect and we started going in completely different directions.
"We communicated well professionally, but that didn't translate into our relationship."
And Karen admitted she and Kevin put too much focus on their work and not enough on their three-year marriage.
She told the Mail on Sunday newspaper: "Both Kevin and I are professionals. We take our jobs on 'Strictly' so seriously, so it was intense.
"We were working so hard and enjoying these great moments on Saturday nights on the show, then we would be on red carpets at parties, but it was what happened when we got home that was the problem.
"We weren't getting what we both needed from our marriage any more and that was a huge thing. We weren't doing the things we would usually do.
"You think you'll work on this stuff later, but because of work you don't address the problems. It's very hard to pay attention to your relationship when you're paying so much attention to work.
"Then, it just snapped out of nowhere and we realised that the love we had for one another had gone. It was such a sad day."
To help her come to terms with the split, Karen has been having life coaching sessions with former 'Strictly' professional Camilla Dallerup, who retrained as a therapist and now works in Los Angeles.
She said: "I have sessions with Camilla. We FaceTime. I work on things from my past with her. I work to understand the pressure I'm under and learn to take better care of myself.
"I'd like to think that I can help inspire other women, too. I'm undergoing therapy twice a month and I have also been doing hypnotherapy to treat my anxiety. That has been really helpful."
Despite their marriage split, Karen and Kevin have a "nice friendship" now.
She said: "We WhatsApp one another and we have a nice friendship now.
"That might sound weird to some people but we have learned to communicate again.
"We laugh and giggle together in a way that we didn't for a long time, particularly at the end of our relationship."