Strictly’s Toyah Willcox ‘nearly died’ in ‘most traumatic experience’

Strictly star Toyah Willcox has revealed she nearly died on a TV set saying: "It was the most traumatic experience of my life".

The 66-year-old told how she accidentally walked into the path of a glider after receiving abuse from a director while working on BBC programme Holiday.

Toyah - who is in the midst of rehearsing for her first dance with Neil Jones - explains: "I remember one of the most traumatic experiences of my life while working on the Holiday TV programme.

"It was the morning the death of Princess Diana was announced. The world was heartbroken and shocked, or so I believed.

"That day I was working with a guest director who was clearly anti-royal.

"I was deeply upset, having known Princess Diana and greatly respected her and how she had to deal with so much bullying from photographers.

"We were filming on a glider airfield in Hereford and little was being done quickly because everyone wanted to down tools, talk and respect the events of the past 12 hours and just grieve."The director in frustration at everyone being so saddened exploded, very publicly, standing on the glider landing strip screaming 'Who gives a f***- about some woman being killed in a car crash and leaving two children behind, it happens every day!'

"Up until this point, this director in the past 20 hours, had been a complete c*** to be with anyway, but at this point I wanted to kill her with my own hands.

"I was so numb and traumatised at one point I turned and walked into the oncoming path of a speeding silent glider about to land, I almost got killed."

Toyah made the comments on her blog.

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Her previous encounters with abusive directors and co-stars means that Toyah means that she won't tolerate nasty behaviour on the BBC contest.

It comes as the Beeb is desperate to conclude the Giovanni Pernice/Amanda Abbington bullying probe.

Actress Amanda, 50, complained about the Italian star's alleged aggressive bullying at training which kickstarted a damaging public furore.

Giovanni has always denied the allegations.

Toyah previously said: "I support all of you who are tolerating the intolerable in the work space and I stand by my motto: “Everyone has a unique quality to bring to the world.

"If anyone ever tells you otherwise remember “the abuser always blames their victims”.

Toyah - who was born with a twisted spine, a clubbed right foot and one leg shorter than the other - recently opened up about her health issues and explained how she has endured debilitating insomnia since she was just 14.

In an interview with the Mirror she explained how it started alongside the stress of school exams.

She said: “I experienced the typical ­teenage stress that the pressure of cramming for exams, and then sitting there for hours on end doing them brings.

"During what felt like a solid month of exam papers, I just stopped sleeping. Once the pattern set in, it became a habit and I never really addressed it because back then no one really talked about insomnia. You’d just had a bad night’s sleep.”

Toyah wowed viewers on last week's show in her glamorous outfit. But it was her husband Robert Fripp, who was sat in the audience, who caused an online stir.

Robert is a rock icon known for his role in King Crimson and collaborations with greats like David Bowie.

One fan tweeted in disbelief: "Honestly never thought I'd see Robert Fripp on #Strictly." Another viewer echoed the sentiment and wrote: "Robert Fripp on #strictly never thought I'd see the day."