*Strictly Come Dancing'*s Kristina Rihanoff has spoken out about how she contemplated suicide after being the recipient of online abuse.
She was blasted by vicious internet trolls after dating her co-stars on the programme: Vincent Simone and Joe Calzaghe.
Kristina, 37, said in an interview with The Sun: “I felt suicidal at that point in my life. I was having such dark thoughts — and I’m not a person who gives up easily."
She continued: “I know that I’m strong but the abuse... it just destroyed me emotionally. I couldn’t find a single positive thing to tell myself.”
She also admitted that her relationship with her ex Joe Calzaghe, with whom she was partnered in the 2009 series of Strictly, became troubled after they started to argue about his drinking.
She says: “He was drinking a lot of the time....Joe likes to go out, have a few drinks and unfortunately for me, it did become a little bit of a problem.
“We did have some fights about his drinking. I didn’t always want to go to nightclubs until 5am.”
Kristina went on to discuss how she was forced to make a choice between Strictly or Joe. She said: “In my mind, if I agreed to keep doing the shows, the relationship would fall to pieces. But I also had to be ready to quit dancing, something that had been part of my life since I was six years old.
“And I didn’t feel that I was ready to sacrifice my work.
“By accepting the next series of Strictly, I knew this would potentially be the final nail in the coffin for my relationship with Joe.”
Hopefully now Kristina has found happiness in her current relationship with another former co star who she met in the 2013 series - ex-England rugby star Ben Cohen.