Entertainment
Strictly Come Dancing’s Will Mellor had to stop rehearsal due to grief as they danced to late dad’s favourite song-Rachael O'Connor-Entertainment – Metro
‘It was one of my dad’s favourite songs, he used to sing it to my mum.’
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Will Mellor has revealed he had to stop practising for Strictly Come Dancing as he was overcome with grief for his late father.
The soaps actor is competing on the 2022 series of the dancing competition alongside professional dance partner Nancy Xu, with the pair topping the leaderboard in week one.
Will lost his father, Bill, in 2020, and previously said he wanted to appear on Strictly to help make new happy memories for his mother, the BBC series being her favourite show.
Saturday’s episode will see Will and Nancy dance to Lionel Richie’s track Three Times A Lady, however the Coronation Street actor says they lost vital practice time as he kept crying during rehearsals.
‘It was one of my dad’s favourite songs, he used to sing it to my mum,’ he revealed on an appearance on Thursday’s episode of Loose Women.
‘I couldn’t get through Monday without crying, it was just so hard.
Will explained he had become overwhelmed by grief for his father as he and Nancy practised to one of his favourite songs (Picture: ITV)
‘It’s weird, grief, when you lose somebody you think “It’s gone, I can talk about it now.” And then something happens and it grabs you.
‘And I couldn’t talk. And it was weird. So we lost a lot of Monday because I couldn’t concentrate.’
However he added that it was important for him to keep going, as his father ‘lives in me now’ and he wanted to make him – and his mother – proud.
The actor previously said he was doing Strictly partly to create good memories for his mother, as it is her favourite show (Picture: Instagram)
Professional dancer Nancy, supporting her partner, joked she had to sing the song herself during the practice as they couldn’t play the real version.
And Will was soon laughing along as she belted out a playful rendition on the show.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast earlier this year as he was confirmed as the first cast member of Strictly 2022, Will explained: ‘I lost my dad in 2020 and I just thought from then I’ve just got to grab life and I’ve got to do things.
Will and partner Nancy are excelling in this year’s series and have become close friends (Picture: PA)
‘I’ve got to create new memories and my mindset changed, and that’s sort of one of the reasons why.
‘It’s my mum’s favourite show so she’s had it really tough over the last few years so I thought we’ll do this…’
Will previously opened up about losing his father in an emotional video shared on his social media.
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‘It’s just the hardest time,’ he said. ‘It’s horrendous. What do you do when you lose your hero?’
Loose Women airs weekdays from 12.30pm on ITV
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