Amanda Abbington opened up about her breast cancer fears (Image: BBC)
stated in a shock new interview that she was relieved a scare meant she had a reason to get away from .
The star had been attempting to learn a routine with but “couldn’t concentrate” as she was fretting over the lumps she’d found earlier that day and wondering whether they could be cancerous.
Quickly picking up on her frame of mind, Giovanni allegedly told her: “There’s no point teaching you this because it’s not going in. You can’t get it. We’ll be lucky if we get through because you’re useless.”
Amanda said: “He refused to even look at me so I went to the toilet, came back and said, ‘I’m going to go to the hospital now because I found two lumps in my breast this morning.'” After she dropped the bombshell, she claims Giovanni was instantly nicer – and she felt relief.
“It was the catalyst I’d been sort of waiting for, which is terrible – but that’s what I was thinking, that [going to hospital] was a healthier option than being in that room,” she told . She added: “OK, I have to deal with this now instead. Phew.”
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Amanda Abbington appeared on Strictly in 2023 (Image: BBC)
The lumps, which appeared two months after a mammogram had come back clear, were fortunately benign – but by this point, Amanda had already quit, citing “personal and medical reasons”. She went on to allege “cruel” and “misogynistic” behaviour at the hands of Giovanni, whom she claims insulted her when she couldn’t learn dance routines quickly enough.
Amanda says she endured a continuous “onslaught of being told you’re not good enough” – and she also took offence to a comment made about her dancing like a “vegetable”.
According to reports, he admitted using this term in the probe, but it was not upheld as bullying as the comments related to her posture and technique on the dancefloor.
However, Amanda took offence, particularly as her fiancé Jonathan Goodwin, whom she says Giovanni had met, uses a wheelchair.
, leaving him fortunate to be alive.
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Amanda Abbington and Giovanni Pernice (Image: BBC)
The upheld six of her 17 complaints about Giovanni, after ruling that his comments could be “belittling, dismissive and insulting”.
However, a spokeswoman for Giovanni told The Mirror: “The concluded its review almost a week ago. It is deeply concerning that Ms Abbington appears hellbent on continuously misrepresenting the review’s findings in TV and newspaper interviews.
“Giovanni is focusing on his job on Ballando con le Stella and supporting his partner, Bianca.
“He hopes that Ms Abbington can soon accept the review’s findings and look to the future.”