Ellie Leach says 'Strictly Come Dancing' has improved her body confidence.
Ellie Leach credits Strictly with improving body confidence
The 22-year-old actress - who is best known for playing Faye Windass on 'Coronation Street' - praised the show and her professional dance partner Vito Coppola, 31, for giving her a "newfound confidence" after previous struggles with body image.
She told The Sun newspaper: "Body confidence is probably something I’ve always really struggled with.
“As a young woman and growing up in the public eye as well, it’s been amazing, but it’s also quite intense, and there’s always eyes on you, everything that you do.
“When you’re dressed up and you’ve got all the costumes on and your hair done and your make-up done and you feel great, you go out there and you smash it, it feels amazing.
“'Strictly' has given me a newfound confidence that I’ve never really had before.”
And, she credits Vito with helping her to grow in confidence.
She said: "Vito is a great teacher.
“Sometimes I don’t believe in myself and he believes in me, which is really, really nice.
“It makes me believe in myself and be like, ‘You know what? I can do this’, and I want to do well.
"We train nine till six every day. I’ve never really done much activity before, so I’m seeing my body changing.
“But Vito’s keeping me snacked up. We always have snacks on hand, so we’re definitely eating.
“But I think the physical activity side, I can definitely see the impact it’s having.
“The fact that I’ve been dancing on live TV in front of millions of people is crazy to me.
“I do think it gives you a little bit of that confidence to be like, ‘Oh, as if I’ve done that and as if that’s me’.
“When I watch Saturday’s show on a Sunday, I’m like, ‘Is that really me?’
“Sometimes I don’t recognise myself. I am growing in confidence every day."