Quotes from Arlene Phillips

We'd grown up without any money. I mean, everything was a struggle; our lives were a struggle, and dancing changed all of that. Nothing mattered; it was the most important thing in my life.

I've never been money savvy.

Women should have parity with men. End of story.

My parents were passionate about the ballet. They always played ballet music at home.

Certainly after 'Strictly' I was in a very vulnerable situation.

I'm short, stocky and have a big bum.

I'd been in and out of relationships, never very successfully. Then, when I met Angus, I found someone who also became my best friend in the world. And once you have somebody who you want to be with and share things with, it's fantastic. He's the total opposite of me, but somehow together we are like one whole person.

Life was a struggle financially when I was growing up in Manchester and my father continued the strict upbringing he himself had had, even after our very warm and demonstrative mother died.

My family always laugh at me because they all camp and I'm definitely not a camper!

It's hard for anyone to say that they chose to put their parent in a home rather than give up a large part of their own life to care for them, and thinking about the years leading up to my father's death still punishes me.

People always used to ask me 'What makes a celebrity?' and I used to say: 'Being asked to comment mostly on things you know nothing about.'

I am always competing with my body. I am always thinking my body is going to do things it won't do.

I love swimming, and when I'm choreographing something I'm in the studio dancing all day, every day.

All I can say is that I am the biggest coward in the world, I'm not courageous!

If I have a financial problem, it is caution. I like to have money in the bank. I don't like taking chances.

I always wanted children, and it was a dream come true when I discovered I was pregnant with Alana when I was 36.

When my mother died when I was 15, it felt like the end of my dreams of becoming a dancer - I had a sister and a brother and we had to pull together to look after the house and my father.

I do look at both of them and think: 'No matter what I have achieved in my career, my daughters are the best thing I have ever created.' No competition at all, really.

My day job has always been in the theatre.

Sometimes I'll feel content dieting - if I could only bottle that feeling!

Funny enough, apart from when I was at school, I've always gone out with younger men - I was even married briefly to one prior to Angus.

I think dancing always took me to a different place. It was hard and it was a struggle, but it took me to the kind of place I wanted to live in. It wasn't real life.

I like dancers who demand of themselves to achieve, not just technically but also as performers.

Dancing should be as much a part of our daily routine as brushing our teeth.