She explained these episodes triggered fears linked to her brother's passing, who was uncontactable hours before he died by suicide aged 44. The 65-year-old told The Times: "He was disappearing all the time.

"It just got to a point where it was so upsetting every time it happened that I just decided to call it a day. It's better to be on my own than constantly worrying, stressful, about somebody else.

"He's done some things that are really under the table and quite unforgivable. But I'm okay at the moment. No dates. I don't want to call anyone a boyfriend or a this or a that."

It comes after the TV judge told The Mirror how the horrible ordeal brought back painful memories of his passing. She told the outlet: "All those memories came flooding back... it triggered all these emotions."

On one occasion, Shirley confessed she spent hours trying to track Danny down by calling his friends and family in a panic. By 2am, she realised he had read her messages but decided not to reply, only to turn up the next day as if nothing had happened.

It was at this point that Shirley vowed to call off their engagement. She reflected: "I will never forget that day until the day I die. I remember looking across in the middle of the night, and I saw my mother was just so upset, reliving all of her trauma. I just thought, 'This can't go on'. Not just for my sake, but my mum too."

Although her love life may have been turbulent, she had enjoyed a glittering professional career on both stage and screen. Her first husband was ballroom star Sammy Stopford, whom she married at 19.

Four years later, she left him for US dancer Corky Ballas, with whom she shares her only son, Mark Ballas. The couple separated in 2007 after 22 years together. Shirley then met theatre actor Danny in 2019 while appearing in a pantomime together. The couple dated for six years before she called time on their romance.