BBC Strictly Come Dancing star tried to take own life but saved by passing police officer
A BBC Strictly Come Dancing star says she tried to take her own life - but was saved by a passing cop. The BBC contestant, Toyah Willcox, has discussed being saved my a police officer after being left suicidal before her stint on the show.
Strictly Come Dancing star Toyah was only saved by a passing policeman who was close to the bridge in North London. Toyah wrote in her memoir, Living Out Loud, that she had become aware of the reputation of a bridge near her home in London for people taking their lives.
"I grew accustomed to the view from the bridge at dawn," she wrote. "In those days there was little traffic on the roads at 5am. The bridge mesmerised me. It was known locally as suicide bridge. I contemplated jumping every time I crossed it. Sometimes because I was drunk and bolshie, but most of the time because I was heartbroken.
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"Back then loneliness and rejection were a big part of my life.” She said: “It was, about 4.30am, the sun was rising on the bridge. I’d spent the night at a succession of parties. On the way home I stood watching the view from the bridge. It always made me cry. I thought to myself ‘what would it be like to jump?’
"So, looking around to make sure the coast was clear, I dared myself to jump." She said: “As I balanced, I thought of mum and dad, my brother and sister and how they would feel. It would destroy them. I thought of ending all possibilities, and decided I didn’t ever want to jump. But by now it was too late.”
“Then, a hand grabbed my ankle. I almost fell forward," Toyah explained. A voice came: ‘Don’t do it. Just don’t do it’. I turned and it was a policeman. He was white as a sheet. Where he appeared from I had no idea. There was no bicycle, no car, no footsteps.
"We talked for an hour…and parted friends.”