'Never fully recovered' Strictly's Amy Dowden forced to take time out as illness flares up

express.co.uk:

Strictly Come Dancing professional Amy Dowden, 31, has told fans she was forced to take some time off after she suffered a Crohn’s disease flare-up whilst performing on the Strictly tour.

Amy made the admission via her Instagram story on Sunday evening.She told her 316,000 followers: “Just under two weeks ago I think my condition basically was like, Amy, you need to rest, you need to take some time out.“I actually listened to my body, I didn’t have a choice really, but I think I didn’t really ever fully recover from my flare-up on tour and then it just caught up on me basically.“So, I took some time out and then last week Ben also took a few days out as well.”Amy has been engaged to fellow professional dancer, Ben Jones, since 2017.She said it was “really lovely” to be able to take some time off and allow her body to recuperate.The dancer continued: “It made me realise how much I needed a rest, both physically and mentally.“How nice it was actually to just spend some quality time with Ben because our lives are go, go,go.”Amy and Ben planned to tie the knot in July 2020, with Oti Mabuse and Dianne Buswell as bridesmaids.However, due to the Covid pandemic, the couple’s nuptials had to be put on hold.But in her new update, Amy confirmed that wedding planning is still going ahead and that on top of a house renovation has meant her life is “all go”.The Welsh star will be dancing with her fiance on her new tour, An Evening With Amy Dowden, which kicks off in three weeks.In an interview on Steph’s Packed Lunch last month, Amy joked that dancing with Ben “can go one way or another”.Amy also opened up about how she was left in agony when her Crohn’s disease flare-up meant fellow dancers, Aljaz Skorjanec and Kai Widdrington, had.