How DWTS is helping Elaine Crowley cope with Christmas grief
Elaine Crowley has opened up about her feelings of loss at Christmas and how Dancing With The Stars is helping to make things a bit happier this time around.
The host, who is an ambassador for Breast Cancer Ireland, lost her dad Sean to liposarcoma when she was 23 and she faced more heartache when her mum Mary died in 2021 from lung cancer.
She devastatingly also lost her nephew Ultan who was just 11 years of age to a rare form of cancer in 2023.
Pic: Brian McEvoy
Speaking to EVOKE at the Stadium Panto, Elaine said: ‘I’m trying to make it happier this year but I think the sisterhood of the sparkly knickers that I’ve now joined will make it a bit happier but yes it is extraordinarily difficult and it is for a lot of people as well, it such a time of loss, you just have to be grateful for what you have I guess.’
Revealing how she will be spending Christmas, Elaine divulged that she has cut her break a little bit short to keep up with her Dancing With The Stars training.
She told us that she is ‘not taking much time off due to the fact that I’m not the strongest dancer in the universe, [and] Denys [Samson] has only given me a few days off.’
‘I’ve literally only a few days at home, I will be back earlier than I planned because I’m not picking up as quickly as I should have.’
She continued: ‘I’m in a spin over DWTS, it’s not something I ever thought I’d do to be honest I have two left feet, I’m not getting the hang of it all, myself and Kevin Dundon and Mickey Joe Harte are kind of looking at the rest of them going “yeah we have two Olympian’s here and we have a rake of young ones in their twenties…’
She previously said of appearing the show: ‘I’ve never done anything remotely like this before, never mind in front of so many people. But my eldest sister said to me, you haven’t put yourself out of your comfort zone for decades.’
‘You can interview the politicians. You can do all the stuff on Ireland AM, but challenge yourself for once. So, class of 2025 bring it on. What’s the worst that can happen?’
