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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Entertainment
Ryan Paton

Strictly Come Dancing's Shirley Ballas in tears on This Morning over tragic family loss

Shirley Ballas was in tears on This Morning as she discussed her brother's tragic death.

The Strictly Come Dancing judge appeared on ITV's flagship daytime programme to show support for the Last Photo Project ran by the Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM). The interactive exhibition is situated on London's Southbank and shows the faces of 50 people who lost their life to suicide.

Shirley's brother, David Rich, took his own life in 2003 at the age of 44 and he is one of the faces included in the campaign. The 61-year-old, who hails from Wallasey, is an ambassador for Calm and was emotional as she spoke about seeing her brother's face in the campaign.

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She said: "It is a beautiful display. Seeing my brother there just brought everything back from 20 years ago.

"I was thinking to myself if I had what I knew now back then I could have really helped in a much better way. Communication is key. What I love about CALM is you can be a friend, a family member or you can be someone who has not feeling well and they will be there for you to chat."

Shirley spoke to her brother everyday and she delivered an emotional tribute as she spoke about their close relationship. She said: "He was everything to me. He was the last person that I would ever think would take his own life.

"When I look back now, there were warning signs. There were little things he would say or comments he would make and I thought 'you'll be fine'.

You didn't talk about it then. It wasn't something you would come to the front and say I'm feeling like this. He wouldn't even go the hospital because he didn't want anyone to know."

Shirley said people need to be "astute" and identified warning signs to look for, which could indicate a loved one is suffering with their mental well-being. She said: If someone changes a habit. One minute their super jovial and their down

If they're not bathing or turning up for appointments, then these are little signs. During the darkest times in my life I've had people tell me I''ll be fine' but they don't know what's going on inside."

She added: "You have to be very careful about behind the mask because many people have this beautiful smile. Don't just go off a smile to see whether people are feeling OK. Sometimes people are just not so its really listening and being intuitive."

The message of CALM's Last Photo Project is to to show "suicide doesn't always look suicidal" and This Morning host Phillip Schofield urged anyone suffering to talk to someone. He said: "I've went through some very dark times and I leaned heavily on my friends so you've got to talk to someone because you can't do it on your own."

If you feel distressed and would like to talk to someone, you could call the CALM helpline on 0800 58 58 58

The Samaritans 24-hour helpline can be contacted on 116123.

Mind can also be contacted on their Infoline: 0300 123 3393.

This Morning airs weekdays from 10am on ITV and the ITV Hub

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