Actress Faye Brookes has revealed she suffered “breakdowns” while appearing on Dancing on Ice . The former Coronation Street star, 36, said she was under crushing pressure to be perfect while struggling behind the scenes in the 2021 series. She said: “I felt like I had to be this princess that I could do it all and I was perfect.
No, no, no. Nobody saw the bruises, nobody saw the tears, the breakdowns that I had over that. It was quite lonely at times.
“I’m not saying it’s lonely at the top, because I’m not at the top, but my Dancing On Ice was in lockdown so we were stuck with these rules and had to really abide by these rules, every week, every Sunday – doing what we were told just so the show could go up.” Faye joined Coronation Street as Kate Connor in 2015 and stayed on the ITV soap for four years. Despite her struggles, she finished runner-up on Dancing On Ice with partner Hamish Gaman.
At the time she had been dating personal trainer Joe Davies after breaking off her engagement to singer Gareth Gates in 2019. Speaking to former Strictly Come Dancing star Kevin Clifton, 41, for the first episode of her Not Fazed with Faye podcast, she recalled: “I really felt that at times I was so caught up in my head and I couldn’t get out of my head. I needed my loved ones near me, just a support system, someone to talk to.
” Faye split with Joe in 2022 and began dating theatre director Iwan Lewis. They were friends for 11 years before finally getting together,.
