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Amber Davies become emotional as she admitted that starring on Strictly Come Dancing last year ‘annihilated’ her, as she opened up about why she has been off sick from Legally Blonde: The Musical.
The actress, 29, was previously forced to pull out of the show for the foreseeable after falling ill.
Now, Amber has addressed the situation on her podcast, Call To Stage With Amber Davies, sharing a candid health update and revealing how her gruelling schedule took a serious toll.
During the episode, she admitted she ‘should have listened’ to her body after becoming seriously unwell following press night.
She explained that after weeks of intense rehearsals and building the production from scratch, her immune system was already ‘run down’ when she caught the flu, which quickly spread through the cast.
Despite feeling unwell, she pushed through, determined not to let anyone down.
However, she revealed her illness then developed into a chest and sinus infection, for which she was prescribed antibiotics.
Although she initially began to feel better, she returned to work too soon, a decision she called her ‘first error’, as the infection had not fully cleared.
Driven by a ‘show must go on’ mentality and the pressure of leading the production, she admitted she put others before her own health.
Things then took a dramatic turn when her condition suddenly worsened. She recalled struggling to even get to the theatre before her energy and voice began failing.
Realising something was seriously wrong, she was forced to step back, later discovering her infection levels were ‘through the roof’ after medical tests.
She recalled: ‘I remember sitting at the back, I was meant to drive to the show that day, and I just didn’t have the energy to drive.
‘So I got in the back of an Uber, and I remember just sitting there thinking, “oh my god, there’s something seriously wrong with me”.
‘But again, I didn’t want to call in. I didn’t, and because I’d just previously been ill like three weeks before, I was like, I can’t call in again, like what is going on?
‘And I started the show, and I’d got under the lights in my Elle costume, in my wig, and I just wasn’t there. Like my voice was shutting down on me. Simultaneously, my energy was dropping – I was like oh god, get me off this stage.’
She continued: ‘So after Sirius, I made the call, and everybody knew that I wasn’t feeling 100 per cent and the whole company gave me so much grace and space.’
Now recovering, Amber revealed she has undergone an extended course of antibiotics alongside steroids to tackle the severe infection.
Reflecting on the ordeal, she admitted feeling guilty for pushing herself so far, but said it had been a wake-up call, vowing she will never ignore her body’s warning signs again.
Elsewhere in the podcast, Amber revealed that she was offered Strictly Come Dancing just before starting rehearsals for Legally Blonde, and, despite wanting time to rest, felt unable to turn it down.
She said: ‘How on earth was I supposed to know that Strictly were going to call? Obviously, that isn’t an opportunity I can turn down.
‘I think I underestimated how much Strictly was going to annihilate me and chew me up.
‘Like yes, it was the best thing I’ve ever done. I would do it a million times again. I loved it with all my heart, even all the sh***y trolls.
‘But I flatlined after Strictly. Some clips come up on my social sometimes of like the semi-finals and the final, and I can see it in my eyes, like, I’m not there, you know?’
‘It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. And like, physically, emotionally, I couldn’t have given anymore. By the end, I wasn’t me.’
