Mills to dance with an artificial limb · 2007-03-19 12:48
Heather Mills will be the first contestant to compete with an artificial limb on “Dancing with the Stars” show that starts on Monday, March 19.
Heather Mills, the estranged wife of Beatle Paul McCartney, lost her left leg below the knee in a 1993 traffic accident.
During the show Mills McCartney, 39, plans to wear a strap for added security.
Licensed prosthetist-orthotist Mike Rieth of St. Petersburg Limb and Brace told St. Petersburg News web site what difficulties Heather Mills may face during the show.
“It’s hard enough to control a prosthesis, let alone to dance in one. In stilettos. In addition, Mills likely has limited ankle motion,” he said
“I don’t know which particular foot she’s wearing, but she’s not going to be able to . . . twist and turn and invert and evert as well as we could,”_ he added.
Doctor Rieth thinks that a waltz would be pretty easy for Heather, but any of that cha-cha stuff might be a little bit of a challenge.
The show executive producer Conrad Green told New York Post: “We wanted to extend the range of people we cast in the show.”
Green said: “We thought it would be very interesting to have someone with a disability.”
Supermodel and contestant Paulina Porizkova says: “It’s a good thing this [show] is happening in the United States and not England. America is such a wonderful country for giving people the benefit of the doubt. And I think that’s why Heather Mills joined the show. Because if she comes on and shows how warm and wonderful and gracious she is, the people are just going to go for her. However, if she doesn’t, she’s screwed.”
Mills’ rivals will include boxer Muhammad Ali’s daughter Laila, herself a champ in the ring, Achy Breaky Heart singer Billy Ray Cyrus, former member of boyband ‘N Sync Joey Fatone, and Sopranos actor Vincent Pastore.
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