has insisted she doesn’t want anyone’s pity after being diagnosed with .
The star, 33, after being and she has urged people to treat her ‘as normal’ when they see her out and about.
Amy has posed without her wig for a sensational new magazine cover shoot, and explained that alongside them.
‘I just want to be treated as normal. When I’m walking outside and I’ve got my headscarf on, I don’t want looks of sympathy or feeling sorry for me – I’m Amy,’ she told the December issue of .
‘Sometimes, people don’t know how to address it. Just ask how I am – I will answer you. We don’t want you to feel sorry for us. We’re embracing it. Stand strong with us…Don’t give me that pity look – I don’t need it!’
That was part of the reason for Amy deciding to pose without a wig for the cover shoot as she wants to shine a light for people going through the same health struggles.
‘Finding out I had Crohn’s [Amy was diagnosed age 19 following eight years of symptoms] I didn’t ever have anyone in the public eye to look up to or to say to my friends, “That’s what I’ve got,”‘ she explained.
‘And I just had a little moment: I imagined teenagers being able to go to school and being able to embrace [not having hair] or go swimming and just be like, “I’m like Amy who’s off Strictly.”
‘And that just gave me the confidence to go, “Yeah, let’s do this.” ‘
That feeling of acceptance and having people to look up to has been a huge help for the professional dancer.
She said: ‘I never thought at 32 I’d be diagnosed with breast cancer… It’s a club you would never wish to be in, but when you’re in it, it’s the most loyal club you could ever be part of. I can speak to my fellow pink sisters and instantly they get it.’
She has also received a wealth of and her husband Ben Jones, but she does have moments of struggling to accept the hands she’s been ‘dealt’.
‘Oh yeah… I always say, I never asked [for] this to happen to me. I’ve always worked so hard. I’ve always been a good person,’ she added.
‘I looked after myself, I’ve exercised well, haven’t smoked… I do get angry. I just think I’ve been dealt a difficult one…
‘I think it’ll take a while to accept. It took me a long time to accept my Crohn’s. Until I’m back dancing and back to my normal self, I don’t think I will accept it.’
Read the full Amy Dowden interview in the December issue of Women’s Health UK, also available as a digital edition.
