Katie Piper is the first confirmed Strictly Come Dancing celebrity but some fans of the show have been wondering how she became famous.
Katie, 34, started her career as a model, dreaming of a career modelling for magazines, presenting TV programmes and appearing as a regular face in the media.
However, a horrific incident in 2008 threatened to shatter her dream when her ex-boyfriend arranged for a man to attack her with acid on a busy London street.
In 2008, Katie began dating Daniel Lynch. The pair had only been dating for two weeks when they arranged to stay in a London hotel after a dinner date one night.
It was during this hotel stay that Daniel raped and attacked Katie, leaving her fearing for her life but she abruptly ended the relationship.
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However, persistent apologies from Daniel soon saw Katie answering his calls and she eventually agreed to read an email he had sent her on Facebook.
As Katie later explained in an interview with Mail Online: In one of Dannys calls hed told me hed got a present for me that would change my life for ever. I knew instantly that he was behind it.
Katies own internet service was down so she headed to an internet cafe on Golders Green Road and recalls how Daniel had phoned her as she made her way there, asking her what she was wearing, which she duly answered.
But as Katie went to cross the road, attacker Stefan Sylvestre approached her and, while she thought he was going to ask for money, he threw a cup of acid in her face.
I could hear someone screaming and screaming and kept wishing theyd be quiet. Then I realised it was me, she added.
I was standing in the street with people walking past me and I could feel my face evaporating. I thought I was on fire as the acid ate at my skin.
Katie suffered life-changing burns to her face, chest and arms, undergoing countless operations and procedures to heal the scars left by the attack.
The attack had been caught on CCTV, with both Lynch and Sylvestre being arrested. Lynch received two life sentences, while Sylvestre received one too.
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It was then in 2009, one year after her attack, that Katie decided to waive her anonymity and appeared in Channel 4 documentary Katie: My Beautiful Face to raise awareness of what victims like her go through.
Describing the attack in a 2009 interview with Daily Mail, Katie said: The pain was indescribable, but for a split second I remember thinking, “How rude to throw coffee when I was trying to help him.” I could feel my skin and clothes burning off me.
Later reflecting, she added: Im never going to be the old Katie. Shes like a best friend I once had, she admits.
Shes gone and theres a different one in her place. Im not going to be a victim. Im the woman who got through this. Im full of life and looking forward to the future.
Katie has previously admitted turning to alcohol to feel like anybody else buy herself following her harrowing attack.
The 34-year-old admitted she often drank alone until the early hours of the morning at her home as she battled anxiety following her ordeal.
She lost sight in one eye after sulphuric acid was hurled in her face in 2008.
I almost destroyed myself six or seven years into my recovery. I can talk about the attack and graphic photos quite easily but this part is difficult because Ive never talked about it before, the TV presenter said on the opening night of her one-woman stage show, Whats In My Head, Mirror Online reports.
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Id drink wine, move on to a dodgy spirit, then your cousins birthday champagne – then you hear a noise and its your neighbours going to work and its 7am.
I was drinking to feel numb. To feel absolutely nothing until I felt unconsciousness. I was drinking to be someone else.
The brave activist was at the height of her boozing in 2013 when she met builder and carpenter Richard Sutton, whom she later married.
People have seen photos of my husband at red carpet events but nobody has really heard about what he did behind all of that.
Piper has since gone on to be an inspiration for other acid attack and burns victims across the country.
As well as her documentary Katie has appeared in a number of other TV shows raising awareness for burns victims and giving them hope at what can be done to help, as well as writing an autobiography, magazine columns, making numerous public appearances and working on her charity the Katie Piper Foundation.
Katie is now married with two children. She announced her engagement to Richard James Sutton in December 2014, tying the knot in November 2015.
They welcomed their first daughter, Belle Elizabeth, in March 2014 and their second, Penelope Diane, in December 2017.
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Katies Strictly announcement came with her discussing her fears about taking part.
It took a while to say yes because its something way out of my comfort zone, she said.
The only person I told was my husband and he thought I was joking.
Im worried Ill be the first to go home, the fear I have is I dont have the natural rhythm. But I like a challenge, anything I cant do it inspires me to learn it.
When asked who shed like to be partnered with, she said: I would really like to be partnered with Giovanni, but I have no sway in that at all.
So watch out Giovanni, Im coming for you!
I hope to come away with a different kind of confidence in a different area of my life, she said of why shes taking part. I think it gives a wider message, my past is irrelevant, to be able to go forward and do these things is a bigger wider message.
Thats something I want to take forward, and its nice to be part of something so light-hearted!
Strictly will start filming this month, with the rest of the names to be announced across the next two weeks ahead of the series red carpet launch at the end of the month.
The final three contestants in previous years have been revealed on a special episode of The One Show. This year, the second contestant will be named on Monday nights episode of the BBC magazine show.
Preparations for the series are already underway, with the pro dancers heading back into rehearsals last Monday.
This years line-up is tipped to include the likes of Corrie star Catherine Tyldesley, Capital DJ Vick Hope, Olympic diver Tom Daley, and Joe Sugg.
Theres no confirmed date for the series yet but the launch show – when the celebrities meet their pro partners for the first time – is likely to air in early September, with the main series beginning a few weeks later.
MORE: Graeme Swann becomes fifth England cricket player to give Strictly Come Dancing a go
MORE: Len Goodman is all about the equal pay for Shirley Ballas: Same job, same money
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