Amy Dowden no longer ’emotionally attached’ to her body after recent mastectomy

Strictly Come Dancing professional Amy Dowden has said she no longer feels “emotionally attached” to her body following her most recent mastectomy.

The Welsh dancer, 35, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2023 and subsequently underwent chemotherapy and a mastectomy.

On Friday night, Dowden appeared on Channel 4’s Stand Up To Cancer and reflected on her 2023 appearance when she spoke to the show with a shaved head amid her treatment for the disease.

She said: “Two years ago, very different story when I was here last.

“I had no hair, I didn’t even recognise myself, actually, but I’m so proud of how far I’ve come.

“At the time I was going through the hardest journey of my life. A cancer diagnosis, it changes you forever.

“I still receive monthly injections on the oncology unit. I’ve been put into menopause because of my hormone-fed cancer.

“I don’t know if I’ll have the honour of being able to become a mum, which I desperately want to be able to…

“Five weeks ago, I had another mastectomy, so I’m no longer emotionally attached to my body, but I am so proud of how far it’s come, and I’m so grateful for another shot at life.”

She added: “A cancer diagnosis, it changes you forever. I’m no longer the person I was, and that’s not by choice.”

Dowden missed out on a celebrity partner on Strictly in 2023 amid her treatment but has since returned to the BBC One dancing show.

She said: “I never thought I was going to get back on the dancefloor. I couldn’t see how I was going to get Amy back again.

“I hated the way I looked. I had no energy and I was scared.

“I was petrified, you know, I used to cry myself to sleep.

“My husband would hear me crying in the shower.

“I just longed for that old Amy back and I know I’m never, ever going to get her back.”