She’s one of the breakout stars of this year’s show who has wowed audiences with her Rumba and Viennese Waltz.
And now Amanda Abbington has credited Strictly Come Dancing with helping her to ‘feel like a woman’ again after being in her 40s made her ‘invisible.’
The actress, 49, said the show has made her feel sexy and given her a major confidence boost, which she hopes will inspire other women her age to ‘grab life by both hands.’
‘I’m a woman of a certain age, so I’m hoping to inspire women my age to go out there and grab life with both hands,’ she said.
‘Because I think sometimes women my age kind of give up, and they just go, “I’ll settle now. I’ll settle for this.” And actually, no, you have the potential to go and do anything.’
Confident: Strictly star Amanda Abbington has revealed she ‘feels like a woman again’ after joining the BBC show as she confessed she felt ‘invisible’ when she hit her 40s
Wow: The 49-year-old is one of the breakout stars of this year’s show and has wowed audiences with her Rumba and Viennese Waltz alongside her partner Giovanni Pernice
She said that, if she can ‘get thrown around’ the dancefloor by ‘gorgeous’ partner Giovanni Pernice, 33, then ‘so can any other woman.’
‘The sky’s the limit. I hope I inspire women to go and do something they wouldn’t normally do,’ she said.
The Sherlock actress, who admitted to feeling insecure before the show, said the compliments she’s receiving are helping her to feel sexy and confident.
‘It’s nice to feel like a woman because like I say, when you hit a certain age, you become invisible,’ she said.
‘You do. You just do. And so for people to go, “Wow, look at you.” And just in a really very complimentary way, it does boost your confidence. Who doesn’t want to be complimented?’
Ms Abbington has two children with former partner Martin Freeman, from whom she separated in 2016 after 16 years together. She is now engaged to retired stunt performer Jonathan Goodwin.
On Saturday, she will perform a Foxtrot to Everywhere by Fleetwood Mac with her partner Giovanni Pernice.
And it appears that she and the Italian professional have put their differences behind them after getting off to a tricky start.
Gorgeous: The actress said the show has made her feel sexy and given her a major confidence boost, which she hopes will inspire other women her age to ‘grab life by both hands’
Inspirational: ‘The sky’s the limit. I hope I inspire women to go and do something they wouldn’t normally do,’ Amanda said (pictured during her incredible samba routine)
Supportive family: Amanda shares two children, Grace, 15, and Joe, 17, with her former partner Martin Freeman (pictured in June)
Ms Abbington said: ‘Giovanni is an incredible teacher. He’s meticulous and he wants to get it right and he’s not stern, but he knows what he wants, which is good for me because I am quite a procrastinator and I can be a little bit lazy. So he kind of whips me into shape a bit and it’s good. It works.’
Meanwhile, Mr Pernice admits he has his sights set on the final with his partner, describing her as being ‘like an amazing Ferrari.’
Ms Abbington and Pernice quickly emerged as frontrunners after their highly-charged waltz on week one.
They shrugged off rumours of a feud and were praised by the judges for their ‘beautiful chemistry.’
However, it is taking its toll on the Ms Abbington as she revealed that her ‘best friend’ is currently ‘ibuprofen.’
Ex: Amanda and Martin separated in 2016 after 16 years together (pictured in 2014)
Happy couple: Amanda is now engaged to Jonathan Goodwin
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