BBC Strictly star Toyah Wilcox's tough childhood, major surgery and bullying woes

Singer and TV presenter Toyah Willcox can't wait to put on her dancing shoes and partner Neil Jones in the contest. The star has overcome serious adversity in her life

Singer and TV presenter Toyah Willcox says training for her time on Strictly has been 'one of the happiest experiences of my life''.

The Eighties pop star, who is the oldest contestant competing in this year's series, is dancing with Neil Jones and says it has been a 'long time since she has felt this well looked after'.

"I met Neil and I was in heaven," she told Claudia Winkleman at the programme's launch. "All of you are beautiful boys but not as beautiful as Neil!"

Toyah, 66, has enjoyed a successful career in the spotlight after a difficult upbringing. She grew up in Birmingham and suffered serious health problems from birth - she was born with a twisted spine and developmental problems with her feet and hip sockets.

The star underwent surgery and physiotherapy at an early age and was bullied at school for her disabilities. Her lisp was also the reason for taunting and just like she struggled with her school mates, her relationship with her parents wasn't easy.

"My mother was very complex," Toyah told the Guardian. "She never told the truth of her history to us."

Toyah always felt her professional dancer mother found her wanting. It is perhaps one reason she became a 'show-off' as a youngster. "I realised I could entertain people and it made people like me," she told the Guardian. "I was probably seven when I realised it was the only thing I could do, in that I would not be able to suffer this life unless I was a performer."

Toyah has suffered with crippling insomnia since she was just 14, too. She said it was initially brought on by the stress of school exams. "I experienced the typical teenage stress that the pressure of cramming for exams, and then sitting there for hours on end doing them brings," said the popstar in an interview with the Mirror.

"During what felt like a solid month of exam papers, I just stopped sleeping. Once the pattern set in, it became a habit and I never really addressed it because back then no one really talked about insomnia. You'd just had a bad night's sleep."

The star recently wrote in her blog about a near-death experience when filming BBC's Holiday on a glider airfield in Hereford. Her ordeal happened on the morning the death of Princess Diana was announced.

"The director, frustrated at everyone being so saddened, lost their temper, standing on the glider landing strip and yelling: 'Who gives a f*** about some woman being killed in a car crash and leaving two children behind, it happens every day!," she said. "I was filled with rage.

"I was so numb and traumatised at one point I turned and walked into the oncoming path of a speeding silent glider about to land, I almost got killed."

Toyah, who is married to musician Robert Fripp, will join 14 other celebrities to compete for the Glitterball Trophy. After overcoming serious adversity in her life, we wouldn't bet against her.