Amanda Abbington wants to challenge perceptions of menopause (Picture: PA)
Amanda Abbington has clarified why she is taking part in Strictly Come Dancing 2023 after insisting she was not transphobic.
The Sherlock actress, 49, was the first contestant announced on August 4 for the glitzy BBC dance show this year.
She will compete alongside the likes of Layton Williams and oldest-ever contestant Angela Rippon when the much-loved series returns, with the line-up taking shape.
During an Instagram Live on Wednesday, Amanda explained she had joined the juggernaut programme to challenge ‘negative’ perceptions of menopause and menopausal women, who she said become ‘invisible’ to society.
She said: ‘I’m not going to shy away from trying to push myself – we have to try and embrace the menopause and there’s so much negativity around the menopause, it upsets me.’
Amanda joked the second reason behind her Strictly stint was to embarrass her children Joe, 17, and Grace, 15, who she shares with ex-Martin Freeman.
Amanda said she wanted to embarrass her two children (Picture: WireImage)
She shares her son and daughter with ex-Martin(Picture: Getty Images )
It comes after Strictly superfans discovered social media posts she wrote about drag queens after watching footage from a Caba Baba Rave, a baby sensory and cabaret show for parents and their babies aged 0-2 years old.
Following a video of the rave showing a person dancing in boots and a bondage harness, Amanda tweeted that the show was ‘not for babies’ and said that ‘if you think it is, there is something fundamentally wrong with you’.
In a subsequent tweet, she penned: ‘I lost quite a few followers for saying that a semi-naked man in thigh-high boots dancing in a highly sexualised way shouldn’t be performing in front of babies and it tells me everything I need to know about where society is heading. How do you not agree with me on this?’
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After being accused of transphobia, she added: ‘I never mentioned the trans community! How on earth is my post transphobic.’
‘I’m saying you do not perform that kind of act in front of BABIES. It’s abhorrent’, she blasted.
Taking to Instagram over the weekend with a lengthy video, the Sherlock star insisted she is ‘not transphobic’ as she spoke directly to people refusing to watch Strictly 2023 because of her.
Amanda insisted she wasn’t transphobic after sparking controversy over a tweet (Picture: PA)
Speaking about the tweet she explained: ‘My tweet back in March was regarding a 12-year-old who was doing it in front of adults and it just upset me because I saw a kid, a little kid, a 12-year-old, doing something very over-sexualised and I didn’t think it was right.
‘Personally speaking, I don’t think 12-year-olds should be performing in drag shows in overtly sexual ways because they’re 12 and they need a childhood, it’s nice for kids to have a childhood and grow up and find that out when they’re old enough to really understand it.’
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‘And that was my tweet. I didn’t associate it with the trans community, nor would I associate that with the trans community, because I think they’re two separate things,’ she said.
Describing drag queens as ‘hilarious and brilliant and an art form’, Amanda added: ‘I think there’s absolutely a place for it in the entertainment industry.’
Strictly Come Dancing returns to BBC One and iPlayer later this year.
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She wants to challenge perceptions.