Strictly’s Amy Dowden reveals close friend has died just one day after giving birth

Sharing a series of images of them over the years, she began by writing: ‘I’ve been a little quiet.

On Friday, I got a call from my darling friend Bex’s mum, Anne, to tell me that Bex had a blood clot on her brain.

‘I still can’t quite find the words or make sense of it.

How something like this can happen to someone so fit, so healthy, so kind…a truly good soul.

‘Bex was the kindest person, always putting others before herself.

Even in the end, she was giving, an organ donor helping others right until the very end.’

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Amy then explained: ‘She had just given birth to her perfect baby boy the day before, completing her beautiful family with her little girl 3 and her true love, Sean.’
She also listed a string of her favourite memories of their friendship.

‘Being Blackpool roommates, sleepovers with Anne telling us to get some sleep while we giggled, sharing a room on my hen when I realised you were pregnant and we couldn’t contain the excitement, calming me down before my first day of Strictly rehearsals and you drove to see me and go through everything, making an 8-hour round trip to visit me during chemo and coming to hospital apts.

‘Ben and I doing the beep test and numerous blood count tests for your uni assignment and looking after us with physio between the rounds that night we won Blackpool.

‘What I loved most were our random, overdue phone catch-ups, where I always knew I’d never be judged, only supported and understood.

‘My sister said earlier how at Blackpool you were always more worried about me than your own dancing.

That was you.

Always selfless.

Always thinking of others.’
Concluding her post, Amy wrote: ‘Bex, I’ll keep you close always.

I promise to look out for your darling mum, dad, Sean, and your beautiful babies.

Love you dearly, my angel.

Xxxx’
The devastating death of her friend comes after Amy has spent the past year in remission for breast cancer.

In May 2023 she announced publicly that she’d been diagnosed with grade 3 breast cancer a month earlier the day before going on her honeymoon with husband Ben Jones.

After her diagnosis, Amy had a mastectomy and underwent chemotherapy.

She was also unable to take part in Strictly that year, but by February 2024 announced that she had ‘no sign of the disease’ in her body.

Although she went on to rejoin the cast of the BBC dancing series later that year – in which she was paired with JLS pop star JB Gill – she collapsed after a routine on the live show and was rushed to hospital, then also later suffering a foot injury and being forced to withdraw from the season.

She did recover and was well enough to compete in the 2025 season of the show – but became part of the first couple voted off after being paired with controversial celebrity partner Thomas Skinner.

However, speaking to Metro earlier this year – which came around the same time it was announced a string of professional dancers had been cut from Strictly – Amy detailed her desire to get back on the dancefloor.

‘I’m asked back, I’d love to get to Blackpool on Strictly to prove to myself that I’m back to where I was before cancer,’ she said.

She also detailed future ambitions too, revealing: ‘I’d love to enjoy my tenth year on Strictly, then do some presenting down the line and, one day, maybe even join the judging panel.

‘I judge a lot of competitions around the UK and around the world and I’d be a nice Strictly judge: fair, honest and sympathetic.’
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