Podcast episode · 25 November 2025

Ellie Goldstein on Strictly And The Hospital Conversation That Changed Everything

Ellie Goldstein was once told she’d never walk or talk. Now she’s danced on Strictly and graced the cover of Vogue. Today, she shares how she proved them…

We Need To Talk with Paul C. Brunson podcast cover
61 min

About this conversation

Ellie Goldstein was once told she’d never walk or talk. Now she’s danced on Strictly and graced the cover of Vogue. Today, she shares how she proved them all wrong.

Ellie is a model, dancer, and author. She’s worked with Vogue, Gucci, and Adidas, and made history on this year’s Strictly Come Dancing. She’s now helping to change how people see learning disabilities in fashion and media.

Her mum, Yvonne, shares the powerful beginning of Ellie’s story. She talks about how doctors broke the news, how they were left alone in a hospital room, and the moment a nurse said, “The last mother who had one of these left it here. Do you want to do that?”

Together, they explain:

Episode summary and show notes supplied by the official We Need To Talk feed.

In this conversation

Chapters from the official episode notes. Timings may vary when adverts are inserted.

More from the official show notes

◽How Strictly changed Ellie’s life - and why she still trains with Vito

◽How Vito became more than a dance partner - he’s now family

◽Being ignored by model agencies - to becoming cover star of Vogue

◽Why spray tans and dance became her happy place

◽What she tells young people with learning disabilities chasing their dreams

◽The biggest myths about Down syndrome - and how Ellie proves them wrong

◽ How it felt meeting Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo

◽The powerful moment she looked in the mirror and said “you’re perfect”

Ellie Goldstein, We Need To Talk.

If you want to learn more about learning disabilities, check out these resources from learning disability charity Mencap https://g2ul0.app.link/HGSUr97VyYb

Mencap Mythbusters: https://g2ul0.app.link/xtvN8U4VyYb

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Portfolio: https://g2ul0.app.link/j1U27nSWyYb

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Notes from Paul

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