If you really have a passion for something, you should follow it and listen to your inner voice.

Strictly' is the most successful reality format in the world - it's in the 'Guinness Book of Records' - going to 38 countries. 'X Factor' hasn't done that.

I like laying by the pool but I do tend to get a bit bored after a couple of days chilling out.

I think women should be paid the same as men. That's for sure. But what would you say to a woman coming in after you've been in the job for 15 years when they've done absolutely nothing to earn it? I don't think that's right.

I'm a workaholic.

My ears are too big.

When I was opening my first bank account, the person at the counter thought I was a girl.

My tights split while I was tap dancing in the West End in 1993.

Actors are very emotional, whereas sports people are used to criticism.

I used to go to clubs and sing as myself but people weren't interested. And then I turned up as a woman and suddenly everyone was interested.

When I'm in a relationship I'm monogamous.

I like committed, one-on-one relationships. That's just who I am.

Anything people say about me I don't care. I really don't care. You read so much terrible stuff about yourself it sort of just ends up washing over.

I had long eyelashes and the other kids used to say I wore mascara.

There can be dramas in your life and you can get over them and become someone. You don't have to wallow in self-pity; you can actually use the experiences in your life to push yourself further and help others.

I feel as though I'm constantly defending myself. I'm up against challengers from the ballroom world, from the dance world, people on the couch who hate what I'm saying about their favourite celebrity. Then you're up against the press, who will always want to put you in a box.

As a dancer, you go from one show to the next, and you never know where your next pound is coming from, and I think that's what makes me say yes to so many things, because there's always a fear that you won't have a job.

I direct as many shows as I can fit in between 'Strictly Come Dancing' and other performance stuff.

I'm not saying the persona on 'Strictly' isn't me - it's just that the nurturing side, which is also a part of who I am, isn't what I'm there for. I'm there to judge and to give an honest opinion, even if it's not the opinion someone wants to hear.

I hated sport, but at 13, I went to an aerobics class and the teacher thought I had natural rhythm. She suggested formal dance classes, and that's when I finally found something I was really good at.

My relationship with my dad was complex, especially when I came out. The years of verbal abuse, all of it drink-fuelled, were difficult. Later, though, he came to see me on stage in 'La Cage aux Folles' - one of his favourite shows - and loved it. Theatre won him over and he accepted me in the end.

I always thought I needed the support of someone in a long-term relationship to make me whole.

Lots of celebrities have had some sort of dance training, especially actors or singers - they have to have some movement skill and be trained physically.

Street dance resonates for teenagers. It's inclusive and brings in different audiences.

If I have to do my tax online, the government should pay for my Internet hook-up, darling.

My advice gets misconstrued as being mean.

I always say the most important thing is the ability to act, then sing, then dance - in that order.

I like fresh, crisp, cool, plain white cotton sheets from Calvin Klein.

I love my bike, a hybrid Matrix Express, which is fast, cheap, easy to park and good exercise.

I love my sporty but classic brown leather Picard satchel.

I've got an iPod, of course. I'm all Mac'd up!

Yes I've had my nose done.

Villains are far more interesting to play than nice people.

I like working with directors I respect, who give me freedom but also give me a good base from which to work.

When you take on an acting or dancing role, you have to trust your director, and in some ways there is freedom in relinquishing control.

How many dancers in their life get a job that will last 15 years? Not many.

X Factor' creates a Christmas single that puts money in other people's pockets. Whereas 'Strictly''s not out to do that, at all. That's why I stand up for it - it isn't car-crash television.

I don't want a splashy magazine wedding with celebrities.

You are under great scrutiny when you are adopting, more so than natural parents. There are a lot of interviews, screenings etc.

Sports men and women need hip replacements. It was all those years of classical ballet and forcing turn-outs. It can be quite detrimental to your body.

I like telling people the truth.

I did not expect to become a celebrity or be known by the public at all.

I chose when I was 30 to change my life entirely and become a director and sit in the dark and that's what I love doing.

It's important to me that people don't go spouting off about anything in your life.

If I was to pretend my father didn't exist and I didn't have anything to remember him by, then it wouldn't be healthy.

The X Factor' - I watch it because I'm always searching for talent to use in my musicals, so they do all the groundwork for me.

I once called EastEnders' Patsy Palmer 'a scrubber in a Puffa jacket who cries all the time' on 'Strictly.' She said I wasn't actually a dancer. That wasn't my finest moment.

I've battled food issues since my late teens.

I was quite chubby, so when I started dancing professionally I had to work hard to stay slim.

I was short and fat as a child.