Oti Mabuse doesn’t want daughter to follow in her dancing footstep

Oti Mabuse has confessed she doesn’t want her daughter to follow in her dancing footsteps.

The professional dancer appeared on Strictly Come Dancing from 2015 to 2022 as a professional dancer and clinched the champion title in 2019 and 2020 with celebrity partners Kelvin Fletcher and Bill Bailey.

After announcing her departure from the popular BBC dance show in 2022, Oti has since joined the panel of judges on Dancing On Ice.

In 2023, Oti welcomed her first child, a daughter, and has now revealed that she isn’t keen on her little one becoming a dancer like herself.

During her appearance on Loose Women on Wednesday (November 5), Oti engaged in a conversation with fellow panellists Kaye Adams, Kéllé Bryan and Myleene Klass about whether or not she’d like her daughter to join the dance world.

 

Oti Mabuse

Oti Mabuse doesn’t want her daughter to follow in her dancing footsteps (Image: ITV)

The dancer elaborated: “No. I just think there’s a lot. There’s a financial reason, it’s insecurity, it’s eating disorders, it’s body dysmorphia and I think a lot of time with dancing we see the glitter and the glamour.

“We’re really blessed to have Strictly but if you’re not a part of that, the other side of it is quite dark and it’s quite difficult.

“I took my daughter to the studio the other day and she saw the other dancers and already at two she was looking at her stomach and trying to press it to try and make it flat.

“So already on that, I was like ‘No, I’m going to put a tennis racket in your hand and we’re going to go to Wimbledon.”

Oti, Marius and their baby daughter

The professional dancer welcomed her baby girl in 2023 (Image: Oti Mabuse Instagram)

Oti gave birth to her first child prematurely at 28 weeks, a “traumatic” experience for the professional dancer, with her newborn spending six weeks in the NICU.

The television star and her husband Marius Lepure have chosen to keep their child’s name private “because we just felt super protective over her.”

Reflecting on her family’s unique naming tradition, the Latin dance champion revealed that her mother, Dudu, played a significant role.

Oti Mabuse

Oti says the dance indsutry can be a “dark” and “difficult” (Image: Oti Mabuse Instagram)

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“My mother is the one who named her. My mum named all the children in the family. I think three months before she was born, the name was already set.

“I was going to name her my name and then I was like, ‘OK, let me just share one,’ and then we decided on the day once we saw her, her other name for my husband’s side.”