EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Nobody likes a successful woman, says Shirley Ballas

Strictly head judge Shirley Ballas has hit back at critics who accused her of having “favourites”, saying “people don’t like women to be successful”.

In a candid conversation, the 65-year-old explained how high-achieving women are often belittled and disapproved of, especially in showbiz, where ‘nobody is your friend’.

His comments follow last week’s bombshell news that Strictly Come Dancing’s female presenting duo Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman will be leaving the BBC show at the end of this year.

The Liverpool-born star faced criticism during his eight-year tenure as Strictly’s head judge.

But the dance expert says she believes the odds are stacked against women who have a career spanning more than 40 years to get to the top.

Speaking at the Wimbledon Book Festival in London, she said: ‘Everyone acts like they’re your friends, but I’ve noticed that 99.9 per cent of the people I meet on a daily basis don’t like to see women succeed.

‘I’m even talking about your girlfriends, people you are close to, they come with sarcastic remarks, secret messages.’

In recent years Ballas has been criticized for her perceived bias towards male celebrities, and in 2023 the abuse went so far that she admitted she was afraid to leave the house after receiving death threats.

Indeed, his ordeal prompted BBC producers to change the format of this year’s programme; thus, the votes for each week’s ‘dance game’ would be divided among the four judges, thus preventing Ballas from being held responsible for each celebrity’s exit.

Ballas, who received the nickname Latin Queen because she is one of the most decorated Latin dancers in the world, also talked about the difficulties of being an old woman in the entertainment industry.

She says: ‘It’s not easy for any woman to still survive in my industry, at my age, but I can speak for myself; In my industry, being able to still survive at the age of 65 is quite important.’

Call The Midwife star laments lack of roles since birth

Call The Midwife actress Jennifer Kirby, who gave birth to her first child earlier this year, has spoken about how she noticed the lack of acting roles for ‘older’ women when she was just 37 years old.

Kirby had a three-year stint as Nurse Valerie Dyer on the BBC show from 2017 to 2020, and also appeared on ITV’s Endeavour. But Kirby maintains that motherhood has made her invisible in the acting world since giving birth to her first child via Caesarean section in July.

Speaking on social media, she said: ‘I have been torn apart and put back together, I have created a whole life within myself and weathered terrible storms.

‘I have so much more to offer than before, but with a few more wrinkles, there are far fewer opportunities.’

Vanessa grateful for colorblind casting

American actress Vanessa Williams attends the 2026 Powerlist Black Excellence Awards Celebration held at JW Marriott Grosvenor House on October 24 in London

US actress Vanessa Williams is winning West End hearts with her role as icy fashion queen Miranda Priestly in the musical The Devil Wears Prada at London’s Dominion Theatre.

However, the 62-year-old star says she is grateful for the producer’s colorblind casting policy, considering her talent rather than her skin color when casting her for the role made famous by Oscar winner Meryl Streep in the 2006 film.

Speaking at the 2026 Powerlist Black Excellence Awards Celebration at the JW Marriott Grosvenor House in London, where she received the Entertainer of the Year award, she told me: ‘I think when the call came they knew what my skills were, I don’t think they took my color into account and knew I could do the job and that’s the most important thing.’

Of the praise she’s received, she says: ‘I’ve been in the business for over 40 years, so I definitely feel like I’ve been in the business for a while, but I think it’s great to be recognized by a completely different community in London.’

Michael McIntyre’s tip for quieting noisy neighbors

Funny man Michael McIntyre told his audience that he played the same music to his noisy neighbors just in time to quiet them down.

The enviable Hampstead home that Michael McIntyre bought for £10 million five years ago has eight bedrooms, a pool, a gym and even a cinema.

But the funny man still has to deal with his annoying neighbors.

‘I had a little thing with them [neighbours] “When they were playing music really loud in the yard anyway, and I didn’t want to complain,” McIntyre says in the upcoming Hello America! to the Soho Theater audience during a warm-up show for. Tour in the USA.

‘To fuck them I played the song they were playing at a slightly different time. “It’s a good idea,” says McIntyre, who also owns a country house in Wiltshire.

The 49-year-old comedian explains: ‘That’s what the British do. They will try to deal with sex without confronting it.’

It doesn’t take the world’s greatest detective to know that showbiz marriages can be short-lived. But Poirot star Sir David Suchet bucks this trend. Next year, he and his wife Sheila will celebrate the golden anniversary of their marriage, and he admits that for him it was love at first sight.

‘When I first saw Sheila it was ‘wow’,’ the 79-year-old actor says at the Delaunay Presents dinner in London. ‘I fell in love immediately. Fifty years later, I’m still waiting to find out if he feels the same.’ The couple met while performing at the Coventry Theater in 1972.

Carrie ‘horrified’ by fat punches

Carrie Hope Fletcher, sister of McFly frontman Tom Fletcher, gave birth to her first child last year.

Weight-loss pills are a must-have for those who want to keep their bodies slim in the public eye, but musical theater star Carrie Hope Fletcher won’t be following suit.

The 33-year-old actor, who stars in Elf the Musical, which opens in London’s West End this evening, told me he was terrified of the side effects.

‘The polls are tempting, but I fear they will discover some terrible effects in ten years,’ he says.

McFly frontman Tom Fletcher’s sister Carrie gave birth to her first child with husband and Elf co-star Joel Montague last year and says she’s proud of her maternity body.

She adds: ‘I hold on to the idea that my body is a map of who I am. ‘I feel a little sick because I was my child’s home for the first nine months of his life.’