Stacey Dooley has said boyfriend Kevin Clifton is “amazing” but that the couple have turned down tens of thousands of pounds for interviews about their relationship.
The documentary film-maker met the professional dancer when they were partnered on the latest series of Strictly Come Dancing, which they won.
It was Clifton’s first series after splitting from wife Karen, while Dooley was in a relationship with Sam Tucknott.
Dooley told The Guardian: “Kev and I have agreed not to go into too much detail about our private lives because you can’t really indulge that and then ask for privacy.
“That’s why we’ve turned down interviews that have offered us tens of thousands of pounds.
“What I am happy to say is Kev’s amazing, I’m happy, life happens, I’ve got an amazing career and I’m very lucky.”
In April she responded to Tucknott’s claims that her romance with Clifton developed while she was still with him, posting on Twitter: “Anyone with any adult life experience knows there are two sides to every story.
“I haven’t got the time or energy to correct some of the utter nonsense I’ve read on here.
“Re Sam, I loved him very much and only wish him happiness and success going forward.”
Dooley also hit back at critics who claim she has given up on her serious work for life as a celebrity, saying: “I think that’s an unfair statement. When you win Strictly, you can go down two paths.
“All the offers come in, and you can do very little work and put your name to things for lots of money, or you can go back to making documentaries in Syria and Nigeria and work really bloody hard.
“I said no to a lot of things I didn’t believe in. It’s not that I’m holier than thou, it’s just that it wasn’t for me. So I went back to the day job.”
She said her colleagues are less snobbish about her than they used to be, saying: “Oh God, I’ve had it all. Sometimes they would say ‘Ooh, you’ve got holes in your jeans’, or mimic my accent.”
Anyone with any adult life experience knows there are 2 sides to every story.
I haven’t got the time or energy to correct some of the utter nonsense I’ve read on here.
Re Sam, I loved him v much and only wish him happiness and success going forward.
— Stacey Dooley (@StaceyDooley) April 15, 2019
She added that she did not respond to jibes, saying: “I don’t give a f*** what they think. Some people don’t understand why I’m there.
“But I work really hard and I deserve to be there. And our documentaries speak for themselves. We are always top three on iPlayer and often we are most-watched factual. The only one we can’t beat is EastEnders.”
She continued: “We all pay our TV licence. It doesn’t matter whether you live on an estate in Luton or you live around the corner from Hyde Park and studied at Oxbridge – we all need to be heard.
“We all need to look at people on television and say ‘Yeah, they represent me in some way’. That’s where we’ve gone wrong in the past. I think the BBC would be the first to say current affairs is still too white and too middle-class and too male-heavy.”
Dooley also said her work has politicised her, saying of new Prime Minister Boris Johnson: “I don’t know how long he’ll last.”
She added: “I always think it’s odd when people say ‘I don’t give a f*** about politics’, because it determines how you live.”