Ex-Strictly Come Dancing pro Graziano Di Prima is now living in a remote part of Sicily with his wife and family following his dismissal over allegations he physically and verbally abused his dance partner, Zara McDermott.
The 30-year-old is said to have been left a “broken man” after the allegations emerged and has retreated to a farm he worked on as a child.
A friend of Graziano’s told the Express: “He’s a broken man. He’s literally going back to manual work and is digging trenches around olive trees
“He’s gone back to where he came from as a young boy of nine when he worked the land and his life was dealing with goats, olives and grapes.”
The friend added that Graziano’s loved ones have urged him to find “some peace in his life” after “losing everything”.
They said: “Graziano is unafraid of hard work, he comes from an impoverished background and built up his dancing career through hard work and dedication.
“He accepts he did wrong and made mistakes. Now he’s trying to keep himself busy and stay strong mentally.”
Graziano confirmed his Strictly exit over the weekend, saying in a statement that he “deeply regrets” the events leading up to his departure.
He added on Instagram that his “intense passion and determination to win might have affected my training regime” and said he understood that it was “best for the show that I step away”.
Zara, 27, later shared her own statement saying she had “wrestled with the fear of opening up” about her experiences in the Strictly training room.
The Love Island star wrote: “I fully understood the level of commitment and hard work that Strictly was going to be and I dedicated everything to it. I am a resilient person and I was fully prepared to put in whatever it took, and so much of my Strictly experience was everything I could have dreamt of…
“However, my experience inside the training room was very different. Reports have been made about my treatment on the show and there were witnesses to some events, as well as videos of particular incidents which are incredibly distressing to watch.”
Graziano’s sacking comes after fellow professional Giovanni Pernice, 33, also departed the dance competition after an investigation was launched into complaints from a number of his celebrity partners about his training methods. He has denied all allegations.
