Dancing with the Stars honored the late Len Goodman through the October 24 episode. Professional dancers from previous seasons returned to the ballroom and joined present professionals to pay tribute to the ballroom legend with decide Derek Hough and co-host Julianne Hough. The attractive and unforgettable dance tribute was set to “Moon River” by Henry Mancini and was choreographed by professionals Val Chmerkovskiy and Jenna Johnson.
Len’s spouse, Sue Barrett, was within the viewers throughout Most Memorable 12 months Evening to look at the present’s tribute to her late husband. Sue was in tears watching how the professional dancers honored Len.
Lots of the professional dancers have been delivered to tears in addition to they appeared over at Len’s judges’ chair on the finish of the efficiency. “All good things have to come to an end,” Len’s voiceover mentioned. Carrie Ann Inaba may very well be seen getting as much as consolation a crying Bruno Tonioli.
On April 24, 2023, Dancing with the Stars followers around the globe have been crushed to be taught that Len had died in hospice in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England. He handed away after battling most cancers on April 22, simply days shy of his 79th birthday. “A much-loved husband, father, and grandfather who will be sorely missed by family, friends, and all who knew him,” learn an announcement offered by his supervisor. The 78-year-old Len was surrounded by his household when he died. Months earlier, Len had introduced his retirement from DWTS.
Len is survived by his son and spouse of greater than a decade. Nevertheless, Sue wasn’t the primary girl to stroll down the aisle with Len. Forty years earlier than Len and Sue tied the knot in 2012, he mentioned “I do” to his first spouse, Cherry Kingston. Study extra about his companions through the years.
Sue Barrett
Len met his future second spouse at a golf membership in 2002, per The Solar. Like Len, Sue had a ardour for dance. She is a dance teacher who runs a ballroom dancing faculty out of their dwelling in Kent. Nevertheless, she didn’t share Len’s style for fame. “She likes to stay out of the limelight,” Len would later say about his accomplice, per The Day by day Mail.
“She’s gorgeous and makes me very happy,” he would say of his accomplice. He would additionally joke that she was fortunate to fall in love with him as a result of he’s so good in mattress. “I don’t snore. I don’t take the duvet. I just lay there and go straight off to sleep. That’s all you want out of a bloke,” he joked.
After 10 years collectively, Len and Sue tied the knot in a secret ceremony in December 2012. “I’ve had a marvelous day, and now my gorgeous Sue is the new Mrs. Goodman,” he mentioned afterward, based on The Day by day Mail. “Did I pickle my walnuts? Of course, I did! I wanted it to be a low-key affair, so we didn’t tell anyone except my 96-year-old mum as I didn’t want her having a heart attack with the surprise.”
“I knew I’d found the woman I wanted to be with for the rest of my life, so why not get married?” he added. “I’ve said before I’m selfish, and that doesn’t equate well for marriage, but My Wonderful Sue got that out of me. I’ve become totally unselfish, and I think that’s because it’s true love.”
When requested if he received down on one knee to suggest, he mentioned, “At my age, no way! I made her go four stairs above me on the staircase, so at least she was taller than me, does that count? We’ve had a marvelous day, with marvelous food surrounded by all my dearest friends – and it didn’t go on for too long, so it didn’t get boring!”
Len and Sue didn’t have any youngsters throughout their decades-long relationship. He had a son from a relationship between his marriages.
Cherry Kingston
In 1972, Len, age 25, married his first spouse, Cherry Kingston, after two years of courting. She was his dancing accomplice and 5 years youthful than him. Len would quit dancing after profitable the British Championships in Blackpool in his late 20s. He additionally received Twin of the Giants, British Rising Stars, The British Exhibition Championships 4 instances, and the World Exhibition Championships within the Seventies.
“I’ve been the luckiest man in the world,” the Strictly Come Dancing alum instructed the Day by day Mail in 2008. “I became British Dance Champion [in his late 20s] only because the bloke who should have won it had broken his leg skiing, otherwise, I’d have been second.”
However, when he retired, their marriage started to crumble. “The dancing was the glue that really held us together. Once that finished, she looked at me and thought, ‘What am I doing with him?’” Len instructed the Day by day Mail.
When visiting Monte Carlo, Len and Cherry met a rich French man named “Michael” in a on line casino, per The Solar. She and “Michael” fell in love and shortly requested Len for a divorce. “I can’t blame her. He was a multi-millionaire. That helped, I guess. It wasn’t a tragedy, although it was a shock because I always thought I’d be the one who would shove off,” he instructed the Day by day Mail.
“Lesley”
Love quickly got here calling for Len. Whereas separated from Cherry – they’d finalize the divorce in 1987 – he met a lady named Lesley. Described because the ex-wife of “a bloke called Wilf Pine who had managed Black Sabbath,” Len and “Lesley” would keep a relationship till the early Nineteen Eighties.
“I was going out with a girl who got pregnant and because of that, my wonderful son came along when I was almost 40. He’s a marvelous boy. Children give life a reason to be – they make life,” Len instructed the Day by day Mail.
