Strictly Come Dancing icon makes heartbreaking death admission over 'crippling' fear

Strictly Come Dancing iconDame Arlene Philips made a heartbreaking admission about her own death.

The popular dancer and choreographer, 82, was opening up about her father’s battle with Alzheimer’swhen she considered how she herself would react to the cruel disease.

Speaking in the Weekend pullout of The Times, she said: “My friends and I talk about this a lot. I think if I had Alzheimer's I'd like to go to Dignitas. So many people are against that, but it would be my decision. I don't ever want my daughters to go through what I went through.”

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Arlene, who is currently working on choreography for Footballers Wives: The Musical, recalled her painful memories of watching her dad Abraham’s decline before his death in 2000 at the age of 89.

Speaking about her late father, she continued: “It's like watching a train going in a tunnel and by the time it gets out the other side it's completely transformed.

“It's crippling to have them stare at you with no sign of recognition. You think, 'What about all the times you put your arms around me? When you talked to me? When you loved me reading to you?' All gone but someone has to put food in your mouth to keep you alive.

“Dad always used to say to me, 'When I get old, I want to be like an animal, to walk into the forest, lie down and go to sleep.' But he couldn't have that.”

Abraham, who used to work as a barber, started showing symptoms of Alzheimer's, which is the most common cause of dementia in the UK, when mum-of-two Arlene was in her early 40s and working on Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Starlight Express show.

She remembered bringing her father breakfast, lunch and dinner and how he sometimes refused to get dressed or believed his flat had been broken into.

The judge, who starred in Strictly from 2004 until 2008, later became an ambassador for the Alzheimer's Society after his death.

Earlier this year, Arelne also spoke to the Guardian where she revealed dying was her greatest fear.

And when asked what her biggest disappointment has been, she answered: “Being let go from Strictly.”

She reflected about the BBC show earlier this year when speaking to Closer about the debate that rages annually – should the celebs be allowed to have prior dancing experience?

And giving her take, she said: 'The thing is, and this is really important, it doesn't mean because you are trained dancers, you are going to win. Think about Bill Bailey. Think about Ore Oduba... Stacey Dooley. So I wish people would get over it.”

She added: “Just enjoy what they do, they may win. Ellie [Leach] wasn't the best dancer; she had dance training – not necessarily the best dancer. In the end, the public can fall in love with anyone, and they can rocket them to a win.

“So I think people should just relax. Yes, they've been trained, and Layton [Williams] didn't win. He's phenomenal, and together, they did things that have never been seen on Strictly anymore. They did come second; didn't win.

“So I think people should get over it. Trained, untrained. Let's enjoy them all. Everybody loves a winner that had to work for it, and no one should ever forget that.”