Amy Dowden has shared “the hardest step” of her cancer journey with fans as she shaved her head. The Welsh dancer, who has competed on Strictly Come Dancing since 2017, was diagnosed with breast cancer in May. She is currently undergoing chemotherapy. Dowden, 33, has been documenting the journey for her fans, and recently described in a candid video how she “cries every day” as her hair falls out due to treatment. On Thursday (21 September), with Dowden over halfway through her chemotherapy, the dancer made the brave decision to “take control” and shave her head. In a montage shared on Instagram, Dowden was shown dabbing at her eyes while her “loved ones” cut off chunks of her hair down to a short, cropped style. The remaining hair was then shaved off, with the Strictly star growing more emotional and pausing to cover her face with her hands. However, she was in the end shown admiring the end results in the m “This too shall pass,” Dowden wrote, before describing the haircut as “the hardest step so far”. “I tried my best to save it. I know it’s only hair but these past few months I’ve had what feels like so much taken away from me that has made me not feel like Amy. I’m missing every possible aspect of dancing. I just wanted to keep my identity with my hair and I tried telling myself it wouldn’t go. But I would dread the pain of waking up to the shredding everyday.” She continued: “I’ve not been able to take control of this journey so far, but as you can see with some of my loved ones I took the courage and CONTROL. “It’s going to take some time to get use to and learn to love and embrace but, I’m now focusing – not on the hair I’m losing but the hair I’m going to get back and the happy dancing, tea lover who talks way to fast whilst rolling every rrrrr who is still there inside with or without hair!” Dowden said that she could now “see the finish line” after shaving her head, explaining: “This for me was a hurdle I couldn’t even bring myself to think or speak about. I’ve done it and I’ve also crossed the halfway chemo line! I’m feeling empowered and positive!” Dowden’s fellow Strictly pro Dianne Buswell commented: You are still all the things you were before, just with added courage, strength and determination. One thing about you is that you don’t let anything take over! “I cannot wait to have you back on the dancefloor with us chatting away, making endless cups of tea! We all love you so much and I’m such a proud friend.” Due to her treatment, Dowden has not been given a professional partner during this series of Strictly Come Dancing. However, the team paid tribute to Dowden during Saturday (16 September) night’s launch show. Host Tess Daly called Dowden their “Welsh dragon” and explained that she would be missing “the start of the series”. Strictly Come Dancing continues Saturday 23 September at 6.15pm on BBC One. Read More Strictly’s Bobby Brazier: ‘I don’t think happiness or fulfilment lies in what TV show I’m gonna do’ Strictly’s Amy Dowden says she ‘cries every day’ as she opens up on losing her hair during cancer treatment Strictly Come Dancing’s biggest stars this year are 50 plus – it’s refreshing to see Stacey Solomon leads tributes to cancer campaigner Nicky Newman who has died aged 35 Yoghurt could be the cure for bad garlic breath, study finds Teenager’s death after drinking too much water was ‘preventable’

It's 2023, and iPods are selling out at Urban Outfitters. Gen Z's fascination with early

Naomi Campbell has reflected on the racism she faced early on in her modelling career. The supermodel, 53, spoke about some of her experiences in the fashion industry in the upcoming Apple TV+ documentary, The Super Models, which also features modelling legends Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, and Christy Turlington. During one episode of the show, which will premiere on 20 September, Campbell reflected on growing up in the UK, beforing moving to the US when she was still a child. According to US Weekly, she said that although she experienced racism as a child, such as when she was five years old and someone called her a racist word, she didn’t let it affect the way she viewed herself. “I wasn’t going to accept being bullied at school for the colour of my skin,” she said. “My mother was paying my school fees just like everybody else. I had every right to be there, so take your bullying somewhere else, is how I felt.” Campbell also added that when she moved to New York to pursue modelling, her mother had a few reservations about it. “At the time, modelling was kind of looked down on in my family. My mother had no idea I was doing any of it,” she said, before noting that she still followed through with her career. She further detailed that, once she got involved in the fashion industry, her mother warned her about the racism that exists in America, as well as the prejudices towards people of colour in the southern parts of the country. With those aspects about racism in mind, Campbell became aware of how hard she’d have to work in order to feel comfortable in her career. “I started to understand culturally that I was going to have to work really hard to feel accepted,” she said. “There was no way I could go back home with my tail between my legs … I was going to go harder and further.” Per US Weekly, the Apple TV+ show continued with Campbell recalling some of the stereotypes about people of colour that she witnessed as she adjusted to living in New York City during the 80s and 90s. She shared a specific experience when she and Turlington were getting into a taxi cab, and the driver appeared to assume that she lived in Brooklyn because she was a Black woman. “I would put my hands out many times on New York City streets, and the taxis would fly by,” Campbell recalled. “Then Christy would put out the hand and they would stop. The guy would be like: ‘I don’t want to go to Brooklyn,’ and I’m like: ‘I’m not going to Brooklyn.’ I was just like, why is he saying that? It didn’t strike me until, you know, Christy would have to stand out in front of me, get me a taxi to get it to work.” Campbell then shared how her friendship with Turlington grew over time, noting that they lived together throughout the early days of her career. Additionally, Evangelista also expressed how she tried to advocate for Campbell when the British model was discriminated against because of her race. “Naomi wasn’t always booked to do the shows,” Evangelista said. “I didn’t understand. Naomi, I thought, was more beautiful, had a much more rocking body than I did and a better strut. [I was] like: ‘Why aren’t they booking her?’ I said to them: ‘If you don’t book her, you don’t get me.’” This isn’t the first time that Campbell has opened up about the racism she faced at the start of career. In a personal essay for CNN Style, published in 2021, she praised Evangelista and Turlington for being “really supportive,” as she “wasn’t being booked for certain shows because of the colour of [her] skin”. “For whatever reason, those designers simply didn’t use Black girls; I didn’t let it rattle me. From attending auditions and performing at an early age, I understood what it meant to be Black,” she wrote. “You had to put in the extra effort. You had to be twice as good.” She emphasised that she was “lucky to have Linda and Christy stand up” for her, describing how they told designers that “if they wanted to have them in their show”, they had to book Campbell as well. “That kind of support was unheard of. I will be forever touched. When I got to walk in those shows, I felt a huge sense of victory, but also gratitude,” she added. Campbell also acknowledged what she’s learned from both her success and the racial prejudices she’d faced throughout her career. “I have had my challenges as a Black model, but in many ways I feel like one of the lucky few. If my career has taught me anything, it’s that you can always turn prejudice around, that you should never give up,” she wrote. “Racism is just ignorance.” Read More From Naomi Campbell to Hailey Bieber: All the top models and celebs in Victoria Secret’s new Icons campaign Cindy Crawford says her father initially thought modelling ‘was another form of prostitution’ Linda Evangelista says she still gets botox after CoolSculpting procedure that left her ‘disfigured Celebrities mingle with royals at glam Vogue World party in London Sienna Miller bares baby bump at celebrity and royal-studded Vogue event How Burberry evolved from humble raincoat maker to luxury fashion giant

TL;DR: As of May 14, you can snag the Mobile Pixels 8-in-1 USB-C Hub for

TL;DR: As of Sept. 19, you can get an iRobot Roomba s9+ for $799 instead

Google has started rolling out Privacy Sandbox, its replacement for third-party cookies. Google initially introduced

When the text flashed on my iPhone screen, I had the answer to the question

We may have parted ways with Succession and Barry, but HBO is already prepared to

BOGO 50%: Now through August 30, booking a roundtrip (or two one-way flights) at Southwest

When you start a software company, you never know where it’s going to lead. For

Elon Musk's neurotechnology company Neuralink received approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to

Being two-faced doesn’t have a positive connotation, but let’s set that aside for the duration