Oti Mabuse's parents thought her decision to become a dancer was the "worst ever".
Oti Mabuse's parents didn't want her to be a dancer
The 'Dancing On Ice' judge admitted her mother and father were "absolutely against" her plans to quit her job to pursue her passion as they felt she should use her civil engineering degree to earn a solid living.
Appearing on Radio 4's 'Desert Island Discs', Oti said: "They [my parents] were against it, absolutely against it.
"They were like, this is the worst decision ever. But I really, really wasn't happy because being an engineer full time meant that I couldn't dance.
"I didn't feel like that was something that I was ready to give up at that point… it just didn't sit right with my soul, and it didn't sit right with my heart."
The31-year-old dancer had been enrolled on the civil engineering course by her parents, who had applied without telling her, and although she loved "the maths and the science side of it and the idea of building something from scratch", soon after graduation the South African beauty knew it wasn't the path she wanted to take.
She remembered thinking: "I can't do this, I can't live my life unhappy… this can't be it. This can't be the journey that I have chosen for myself. I want more out of life."
While Oti's parents were against her pursuing her dreams, it was actually the 'Strictly Come Dancing' professional's mother, Dudu, who had introduced her daughter to dance by setting up a makeshift studio for her daughters and their friends.
Oti said: "She always loved it [dance]… she always wanted to wear those big ballroom dresses and have her hair done, but also in those years black people weren't allowed to, they weren't allowed to even be in the same room or the same dancefloor as white people.
"If she had lived in the UK, she probably would have been a West End star."