Shirley Ballas was in pain during Strictly but only wanted 'minimal painkillers'

Shirley Ballas admits she was in pain during Saturday\'s (02.11.19) \'Strictly Come Dancing\', but only wanted to take "minimal painkillers".

The Latin and ballroom show\'s head judge underwent a four-hour operation to have her implants removed just days ago due to cancer fears, but she didn\'t want to miss out of sitting on the judging panel over the weekend.

She said: "It is [painful] and it was for the show, but I chose to take minimal painkillers.

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"Because I didn\'t want to take anything when I was on the show, so to speak.

"But everyday it will get better. I think it\'s about six to eight weeks recuperation.

"It gets there slowly. I won\'t [miss a show]."

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Prior to the operation, Shirley briefly spoke about the procedure with \'Strictly\' contestant Michelle Visage, who recently revealed she has had her implants removed.

She said: "I spoke to Michelle briefly at one of the after-parties, about the week before I was going into surgery where she wished me well and told me to take my time recuperating.

"And said she feels like a new woman.

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"So from woman to woman she wanted to share that experience of how much healthier she felt, and that was really lovely."

And Shirley admits she is "still getting used" to life without implants.

Speaking on \'Lorraine\', she added: "I feel more like myself. I\'m still getting used to it, because all the clothes are a little bit different now.

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"It was a DD and now it\'s an AB, so it\'s quite a difference in bust size."

Shirley recently urged women to rethink breast implants after having hers removed.

She said: "Don\'t think you need to have these procedures to make you look more attractive. For young women, if someone is making you feel bad about yourself, talk to someone. But don\'t do what I did. You can\'t make somebody love you, no matter what you do to yourself. You can get implants, you can get all these procedures, thinking you will be more of a woman for that person. But it does not make a difference. If they don\'t love you, they won\'t no matter what you do to your appearance. It\'s learning to love yourself."

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And for those still considering implants, the 59-year-old star urged them to "do their research" into the possible risks.

She added: "Do your research about the implants. I did not do mine. I thought if I put them in I\'d look better and my husband would think of me as more desirable.

"I made this choice many years ago not understanding what I was really doing, except telling myself I didn\'t look good enough."