Shirley Ballas has revealed that her ex-husband Corky Ballas once told her that she wasn’t ‘entitled’ to his surname after they got a divorce.
Appearing on Tuesday's Loose Women, the Strictly Come Dancing was asked about her decision to keep the name Ballas - despite splitting with Corky years ago.
Panellist Janet Street-Porter began the conversation by saying: "Now Shirley, I've got a big question for you about your name. I kept my first husband's name and you've done the same, haven't you?"
"I did. My maiden name was Rich and then it went to Stopford and then it went to Ballas," she answered.
"And when Corky and I got a divorce, he was actually the compere at an event I was adjudicating at and he refused to, point blank, to say Shirley Ballas.
"He said it was not my name, I was not entitled to it but I had been married for 22 years and my son is Mark Ballas and I’ll be damned if I’m changing it!" Shirley continued, with a huge grin on her face.
"And even if I were to get married again, it would be Shirley Ballas whatever!" she laughed.
Janet was more than impressed with Shirley's comment and said: "I like that, fighting talk!"
Earlier on in the show, Janet defended her decision to keep her first husband's surname Street-Porter.
Janet was married to photographer Tim Street-Porter until 1975, and said that the reason she decided to keep his name was "quite simple".
"I started writing and I had my first work published just after I got married, so that was my first byline and it was bigger, Street-Porter," she explained.
"And when we got divorced, why would I switch back to my maiden name which was Bull? Nothing wrong with Bull but Street-porter takes up more space!"
"How many second names have you had then?" fellow panellist Linda Robson teased, referring to Janet's three other marriages after Tim.
"Well obviously I've had marital names that I haven't bothered to use, so I had Street-Porter which I stuck with because it's a nice name..." she replied.
Linda then butted in: "It sounds posh as well don't it?"
"Okay Linda, I married a double barrelled man and I decided to keep it but anyone who's spent two seconds listening to me would realise that I came from the same common background as you do!" Janet replied bluntly.
"You deserved that Linda!" Kaye Adams chimed in as they all laughed.
Loose Women airs weekdays at 12:30pm on ITV.
