Strictly star's wife: Our move to NI helped me beat anxiety

Susan Duddy married the dancer in 2015, but said city life with their children Luca, seven, and Matteo, three, had started to take its toll.

They moved to a large rural plot in Northern Ireland, closer to her family, last year.

“I was getting to a stage where I was starting to feel exhausted, being on my own so much with two small children,” she told Hello! magazine.

“I was beginning to suffer from anxiety, it’s not an ideal situation when you have a husband who is on the road touring.

“My parents are here in Northern Ireland, as are my brothers and sister, and I needed that network around me.”

She added that the move had given the couple space to focus on Matteo, who has a delayed speech and language problem.

The mother said: “He’s still so young, the health professionals are reluctant to put a label on it – and it’s not that I want him to be labelled; I just feel that if I understood, I could help him because at the moment I feel helpless.

“I’ve cried many tears because of the fear of the unknown.”

But she said she was now able to relax following Matteo’s positive test results and speech therapy, which has taught the youngster to say words such as “daddy” and “mama”.

Italian-born Simone is also enjoying the quieter life, telling the magazine: “I’ve never lived in the countryside before.

“Where I lived in Italy we were surrounded by buildings and the noise of scooters, and the town Susan and I moved from – not far from London – is very bustling and lively.

“So it has been a real change for me.”