Happiful October 2019

And so it began. Out of sight of
her Italian mother, Rina, and dad,
Mark, who had raised Dianne and
brothers, Andrew – a three-time
Australian ballroom champion –
and Brendon, in a healthy home
environment rich in “family, love
and celebration with beautiful
food”, she began a strict regime to
shrink her body.
“I tried everything. Sometimes I
did three shows a day and I’d go to
the gym in between,” says Dianne.
“I was exercising excessively,
and cut out so many meals. If I
[ended up] off that schedule, it
would really throw me. It was an
addiction, I guess.”
Her weight plummeted, and over
the course of a year, the impact
on her health was huge. Depleted
energy caused her vitality to waste
away, and Dianne’s dance partner
at the time observed her breathing
becoming increasingly laboured.
At her worst, climbing a flight of
stairs was a challenge, and her
periods stopped.
Dianne looks apologetic when she
admits she was “quite happy” with
her smaller frame, because she
“felt more like a dancer, visually”,
but on the inside it was a different
story. She was frightened by her
misery and dysfunction, and felt
like a shadow of her former self.
“I literally went from this bright,
bubbly person to a really lowenergy
Dianne, who’d wake up at
one in the afternoon because I was
so tired,” she says. “Energy has to
come from somewhere, and I was
getting none of it. It got to the point
where I had no physical energy to
do the show or other things.
“Anxiety came with it, because I
didn’t feel well enough to perform,
and had to every night. The anxiety
Jacket & trousers | Scotch & Soda, shoes | Jimmy Choo
20 • happiful.com • August 2019