Newsreader Charlotte Hawkins has brushed off concerns about the so-called Strictly “curse” because she and her husband are very happily married.

The Good Morning Britain host, who is one of this year’s hopefuls for Strictly Come Dancing, has also revealed she is taking inspiration from her “carefree” two-year-old daughter on the dance floor.

Hawkins, who is partnered with Strictly stalwart Brendan Cole, told Hello! magazine: “One of the things I get asked about most is the ‘curse of Strictly’, but it’s not an issue as we’re very happily married.”

Charlotte Hawkins
Charlotte Hawkins and her daughter Ella Rose (Hello! magazine)

The 42-year-old TV regular has been married to husband Mark Herbert for nine years, and in 2015 they welcomed their little girl Ella Rose.

Mr Herbert said, of his wife’s partnering with Cole: “It’s really important they get on – there needs to be quite a bit of chemistry there for their dancing to be good.

“Brendan is a really nice bloke – I’m very happy with him as a choice.”

Hawkins said she hopes to score success with Cole on the show, because he won the first series of the BBC One programme with another newsreader, Natasha Kaplinsky.

Charlotte Hawkins, Brendan Cole.
Charlotte Hawkins and Brendan Cole (BBC/Ray Burmiston/PA)

In terms of her dancing technique, Hawkins is looking to Ella Rose, although she said the toddler is “not the most delicate”.

“I look at Ella Rose when she’s dancing and she’s so carefree; completely confident,” Hawkins said.

“I think I need a bit of that inner two-year-old to help me on Strictly. That’s the bit you need to hold onto. I need to learn from her.
 
“Ella Rose finds it funny when I practise in the kitchen. She helps me with the counting – ‘Five, six, seven eight’.

“She does baby ballet and has taken to it like a duck to water.”

She added: “But she gets all her dancing skills from Peppa Pig. She’s not the most delicate.”

Hawkins took to the dance floor with Cole to dance a Foxtrot in Saturday’s first live show of the series, and the pair scored a respectable 22 points from the judges.

Read the full article in Hello! magazine, out now