Stacey Dooley says she is "so happy" as she speaks about relationship with "amazing" Kevin Clifton

Albertina Lloyd
·Contributor
'Strictly' star Kevin Clifton claims he's 'public enemy no. 1' because of Stacey Dooley romance
Stacey Dooley is dating her Strictly dance partner Kevin Clifton (Credit: BBC)

Stacey Dooley has spoken about her relationship with Kevin Clifton saying she feels lucky and very happy.

The 32-year-old documentary maker and her professional dance partner won the last series of Strictly Come Dancing and are now a couple.

Dooley told The Guardian’s G2: “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.

Read more: Stacey Dooley planning to quit UK for America

“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.”

The TV presenter said she was surprised that there is so much interest in her personal life and not her work.

She said: “What I’m surprised at is that I go to places like Syria and meet some of the most recognisable terrorists in the world or talk about things that will shape the global landscape – enormous topics that warrant front pages of papers – but they never go with that. They’ll always go with who I fancy or who I’m snogging.”

Stacey Dooley, Dr Ranj Singh, Joe Sugg, Graeme Swann, Aljaz Skorjanec, Pasha Kovalev, AJ Pritchard, Giovanni Pernice, Graziano Di Prima and Johannes Radebe attend the photocall for the 'Strictly Come Dancing' live tour at Arena Birmingham on 17 January 2019 in Birmingham, England. Picture date: Thursday 17 January, 2019. Photo credit: Katja Ogrin/ EMPICS Entertainment.
Stacey Dooley says there is a lot more interest in her pesronal life since she won Strictly Come Dancing (Credit: Katja Ogrin/ EMPICS Entertainment)

Dooley - who is reported to have signed a ‘golden handcuffs’ deal with the BBC worth £250,000 - was just 21 when she presented her first documentary Blood, Sweat and T-shirts for BBC Three in 2008.

She reveals she left school at 15 with no qualifications, not bothering to collect the results of the three GCSEs she did take.

Dooley does not drink and reveals she has never taken drugs, but she does confess she was a wild child who skipped school to go clubbing, drinking and shop-lifting.

She said: “I was a nightmare...

“I probably drove my mum loopy. I wouldn’t come home and I’d be out smoking and drinking.

Models (from left to right) Lucy Fizz, Stacey Dooley, Emma Dabiri and Vanessa Knight launch War on Want's Love Fashion Hate Sweatshops campaign outside London Fashion Week's main venue - The BFC tent, at Somerset House, central London.
Stacey Dooley rose to fame with her BBC Three documentary about sweat shops in 2008 (Credit: PA)

“I’d steal. Nothing ridiculous like cars. I’d just go down the Arndale and rob a couple of Morgan tops. The thing I nicked the most was blue eyeliner from the chemist. I was always wearing blue eyeliner and blue mascara, which, on reflection, probably wasn’t my best look.

“But I was good. I never got caught.”

Read more: Stacey Dooley breaks her silence over Kevin Clifton romance

Dooley also revealed: “We lost a friend to drugs; we lost another friend to drink. He didn’t reach 18. We all used to drink. Then you get yourself in a mess and you fall asleep and choke on your own sick … That wasn’t the moment I thought: ‘I’m never drinking again.’ But I’m sure it makes you think twice.”