Cherry Kingston Was a Successful Dancer – Facts about Len Goodman’s Ex-wife

Cherry Kingston was a professional dancer who met her future husband at a young age. She and fellow ballroom dancer, Len Goodman, fell in love after becoming dance partners, but it “ended in tears.”

Kingston was a talented dancer and the first wife of the equally gifted ballroom dancer Len Goodman. The couple married in the ’70s.

As dancer partners, Goodman found dancing hassle-free with Kingston because she came from a family of dancers and had already won medals.

In his autobiography, “Better Late Than Never,” the English native discussed his dancing experience with his spouse. He wrote, “She was an accomplished and lovely dancer, and so it certainly made me look much better because I had a fantastic partner.”

Goodman also got candid about his marriage to Kingston in an August 2008 interview, revealing that it “ended in tears.” His father cautioned him against marrying her, but he never listened.

Cherry Kingston Continued the Family Tradition

Nonetheless, Goodman and Cherry Kingston made great dancing partners. She had been dancing since childhood and had achievement accolades in the field.

Kingston’s parents Joy Tolhurst and Henry Kingston were professional dancers. The former world champion dancers owned the Erith Dance Studios.

Goodman joined the dance studio, and Tolhurst suggested he become her daughter’s dance partner. She told him he would dance with her for a few weeks until he got his medal.

Goodman admitted he was unaware Kingston could dance and was stunned afterward, learning she could do it well. Her mother appeared in the TV series “Television Dancing Club” in 1957, and the same went for her father, whose appearance was several years earlier in 1947. Henry also starred in “The Clock.”

When Goodman joined the duo’s dance studio, he was hurt from playing football and came along with his girlfriend Linda, his dance partner.

At first, he was reserved about doing ballroom dancing, but as time progressed, he started to enjoy it, so much so that he went even after he and Linda broke up. Kingston’s dad asked him whether he would be interested in being his teenage daughter’s dancer partner, and he agreed.

After Henry saw him dancing with his daughter, he praised him and told him he had “potential” to become an even better dancer.

Cherry Kingston Became Len Goodman’s First Wife

Initially, Goodman was skeptical about dancing with Cherry Kingston because she was only a teenager. Once he saw how good she was, he became more enthusiastic about being her dance partner as it opened up a new world for him.

While their partnership seemed successful, romance started brewing between the two. Goodman recalled once that they started kissing on the cheeks, which later advanced to kissing on lips, and one thing led to another.

Sadly, Kingston’s father suddenly passed away, and her mother asked Goodman to help her run the dance studio, to which he agreed.

Meanwhile, Goodman and Kingston tied the knot on April 27, 1972, only two days after his 28th birthday. Although there were bumps in the road in the weeks leading up to the wedding, the pair exchanged wedding vows only for Goodman to leave to see his father at the hospital, who had suffered a heart attack two weeks before. Once he returned, Kingston blamed him for leaving on their special day.

Cherry Kingston Left Goodman for a Wealthy Parisian

While vacationing in Monte Carlo with friends Benny and Sylvie in 1977 during the summer, Cherry Kingston and her husband met a good-looking, wealthy Parisian man named Michel at a casino.

Michel spoiled the couple for the nights they spent there and, at one point, had some alone time with Kingston. After meeting Michel, she started spending less time with her spouse. One evening she returned to their room in the wee hours of the morning, telling Goodman she, Benny, and Sylvie had been to a disco.

Once they all got home, Kingston told her spouse there was a gig for them in Paris. But because he had to be in Johannesburg, South Africa, for a judging gig, he told her to go without him. Goodman later received a call from Benny, who told him he had heard something worrying from Sylvie. Benny revealed this to him:

“Len, Cherry has gone to Paris to meet Michel, the Frenchman from Monte Carlo. She’s introducing him to her mother. She’s going to leave you for him.”

Indeed, Kingston filed for divorce, which was finalized in 1987. They reunited several years later when she already had two children. But Goodman was happy to put the past behind him. Little is known about Kingston’s current life, but as for Goodman, unfortunately, he died from cancer on April 22, 2023. He was 78. Fellow “Dancing with the Stars” alum Tom Bergeron mourned his death and said he lived up to his name.

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