Alesha Dixon thought she'd 'lost everything' after leaving Mis-Teeq

In the years since leaving girlband Mis-Teeq, Alesha Dixon has forged an impressive presenting career for herself but there was a time she feared she had "lost everything".

The mother-of-two decided to pursue a solo career in 2005 after six years as part of the group, whose hits include "Scandalous".

However, she was dropped from her label after working on her debut album Fired Up, a set back that came before her marriage to MC Harvey came to an end.

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Writing in The Big Issue’s Letter To My Younger Self, the 41-year-old shared: “There I was, sitting in my house with no record deal, having pretty much lost all the money I’d ever worked for, and some other things that were going on in my life that have been very publicly documented.

“I literally thought I’d lost everything. And then the universe just said: ‘That’s what you thought, but here we go. You’re about to enter into this new phase of your life’.

“And then I had a hugely successful solo record and had this incredible journey when in 2007 I became a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing and I won. And that took me on to becoming a judge on the show. The biggest risk brought the biggest pay-off.”

Dixon appeared on the Strictly Come Dancing panel for three series before moving on to join the Britain's Got Talent team.

Since 2012, she's been part of the judging line-up alongside Amanda Holden, Simon Cowell and David Walliams.

Most recently, she's also been seen as a presenter on dance contest The Greatest Dancer on BBC One.

Last year, Dixon welcomed her second daughter Anaya with her partner, former backing dancer Azuka Ononye. The pair were already parents to Azura, who was born in 2013.