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Pixie Lott Defends Sheridan Smith After Taking Her Own Stage Break

Pixie Lott has defended Sheridan Smith for her decision to take a month off from her Funny Girl theatre production.

The singer-turned-actress, below, on her own short hiatus from Breakfast At Tiffany’s in which she starred as Holly Golightly, has sympathised with her fellow thespian and suggested she would do the same if someone in her family was ill.

She told The Sun: “Sheridan must be going through a terrible time. Family is number one and doing a show is so full-on. She’s an amazing actress.

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“I didn’t know whether I could keep performing for the next six weeks because playing Holly is such an emotional role.”

Her show of support comes after it was confirmed Sheridan will take up to four weeks off from Funny Girl due to “stress and exhaustion”.

Sheridan’s understudy Natasha J Barnes will be replacing the actress in the role of Fanny Brice, as she has done for the last three performances that Sheridan missed last week.

A statement from producers said: “The entire team at Funny Girl is thinking of Sheridan, and know she is getting the rest and support she needs during this very difficult and stressful time.

“We will all miss her enormously and send our love and best wishes – and we are looking forward to her return to the show in due course.”

Smith, below, blasted critics on Twitter after Sunday evening’s Bafta TV awards and has not appeared on stage since.

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She wrote: ‘When will u stop bullying? I had the best night in memory of my girl @LisaLynch.’

She was nominated for best leading actress for her role in The C Word as the late Lisa Lynch, but lost out to Suranne Jones.

Smith had earlier denied speculative reports in the press that the performance of Funny Girl had to be stopped early because she had been drinking.

A spokesman for Smith has said that the allegations were “categorically not true”.

Pictures Getty Images