Overview

• Speaking on Paul C Brunson’s We Need To Talk podcast released today, the Strictly Come Dancing judge discussed her brother David Rich’s death.
• Rich died by suicide at age 44 in 2003 at the family’s home in the north of England.
• Ballas describes his decline as a period of deep depression marked by profound low mood and significant weight loss, with no clear cause identified.
• She recalls living in the south while their mother stayed with him in the north, and she expresses lasting regret that she did not travel to see him.
• She recounts inviting him to attend her son’s performance at St Paul’s; he urged their mother to go instead and died that weekend, a moment that drives her current mental‑health vigilance.