Strictly '˜helped me get back my confidence'

The tennis coach was partnered with Anton du Beke in the 2014 series of the dancing competition and made it through to the eighth week before she was eliminated during the Blackpool episode.

Murray said the show helped her feel better after she suffered criticism over her involvement in son Andy’s career.

She told Good Housekeeping: “I was buying milk in my local shop when I saw a newsagent’s billboard saying ‘Boris Becker tells Andy to ditch his mum’. I was so embarrassed, I turned around and went straight home.”

She also told of an occasion when a presenter also mocked her clothing at the Scottish Sports Awards, which upset her.

She continued: “[Strictly] helped a lot because, up until that point, you get used to seeing horrible pictures of yourself in the paper portraying you as grotesque or aggressive.

“It helped me to stop feeling that everyone thought I was a nightmare pushy mother.”

The full interview appears in the August issue of Good Housekeeping, which is on sale on July 5.