Strictly Come Dancing star Dianne Buswell has revealed she asked herself whether she would ever dance again after the birth of her son via an emergency C-section. The dancer, who welcomed her first child with partner Joe Sugg earlier this year, opened up about her recovery in an interview.
Emergency C-Section and Painful Recovery
Dianne and Joe, who met on the BBC dance show in 2018, announced their pregnancy in September 2025, and revealed the birth of their son Bowden Richard Mark Sugg on March 16, 2026. Dianne had an emergency cesarean and described the aftermath as intense. Speaking on The Human Edge with Oxydise founder Alan, she said: "You basically are bedridden, also it's your hormones going wild as well. So you've got that on top of pain on top of having this newborn and wanting to give it all your attention, but you also can't even get out of bed."
She added: "Even to sit up is like a real mission. There was one night I had to go to the toilet in the middle of the night, and I just burst into tears because of the pain of just sitting up or having to manoeuvre myself out of bed was just unbearable. I was like how am I going to recover, and will I ever be able to dance again? That was my initial thoughts. I was like, this has absolutely torn through my muscles. I'm never going to be able to dance again. I've lost all mobility in my legs. I've lost my core strength. It was very intense."
Turning a Corner After Two Weeks
Dianne noted that the main struggle was around the two-week mark, after which she began to feel better each day. She has since been using hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) and red light therapy to aid her recovery, sharing her journey on social media. In a post from inside an oxygen tank, Dianne wore an oxygen mask while using a laptop and said the treatment was "honestly helping me so much."
Discussing why she shares her recovery, Dianne said: "We [her and Joe] do share things that we truly believe in. And obviously, I have shared about the red light therapy and the HBOT chamber. And I've had so many people message me about how I feel after it, what are the benefits, and this excites me because for me to be able to share something that's made me feel so good." She added that her parents tried both therapies when visiting and found them beneficial, leading her to buy them a red light therapy device.
Return to Strictly Ballroom
Dianne will return to the Strictly ballroom for the show's 2026 series, continuing her professional dancing career after maternity leave.
