Strictly star John Whaite
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Strictly star John Whaite’s horror when sister went missing as she battled health condition

He previously opened up about the incident

Strictly Come Dancing star John Whaite once revealed the horror when his sister went missing as she battled a rare health condition.

The former The Great British Bake Off winner explained that he and his family grew concerned about her life after she went missing in Portugal.

John said his sister was battling Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder, but was thankfully eventually found safe.

Strictly star John Whaite
John previously opened up about his sister (Credit: SplashNews.com)

Strictly star John Whaite on sister

Speaking on Loose Women in 2019, John said: “Over the past seven years or since she had her first child, she has serious bouts of what we thought was post-natal depression.

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“Then mum started to realise that she was dreading Victoria coming on her period because, during that time, or the time around it, she would get very distressed.”

Strictly star John Whaite on Loose Women
John opened up about the incident on Loose Women in 2019 (Credit: ITV)

He continued: “Mum put her in touch with a consultant specialist in female hormonal and gynecological health.

“That was the person who said, ‘I really think you’ve got Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder’.”

In 2019, John’s sister was due to travel home from Portugal but suffered a breakdown due to her condition.

John explained on Loose Women: “One thing for Victoria is that she feels like she wants to crawl out of her skin and get away from wherever she is. So she left. She dropped her passport and ran away.

“Our whole family just stopped. We just didn’t know what to do. We were [in fear of her life]. She’d talked about suicide in the past, so it was a real concern.”

John whaite on Strictly
John currently stars on Strictly (Credit: BBC – Photographer: Ray Burmiston)

But John has previously opened up about battling his own condition – sexsomnia.

What has Strictly Come Dancing star John said about his sexsomnia?

Chatting on Steph’s Packed Lunch, John revealed that he suffers from a condition called sexsomnia.

If you’ve never heard of it, you’re not alone – we had to have a Google too!

John explained he experiences “night pleasures” due to the condition, in which he gets intimate with his boyfriend in his sleep.

He told host Steph McGovern: “You have night terrors, I have night pleasures because I have sexsomnia…

“In the night, I’ll be fast asleep… My boyfriend wakes up and I’ll be fondling him. He’s having the time of his life and I’m fast asleep.”

What did the doctor say about the condition?

John admitted he has sought medical advice for the issue – in which an individual engages in sexual acts while in non rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep.

However, the doctor he visited insisted it isn’t a real condition.

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But John did his research and discovered Eva Longoria’s character Gabrielle Solis suffered the same thing in Desperate Housewives.

He added: “When I lived in London I went to the doctors and he just said that’s not a thing.

“But I went on a doctor website and it’s a real thing. It was in Desperate Housewives, Eva Longoria had it!”

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Nancy Brown
Associate Editor