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LOS ANGELES - Heather Mills, estranged wife of former Beatle Paul McCartney, has joined the next group of celebrities who will strut their stuff on the US television hit Dancing with the Stars, the network said today.
Mills, 39, a former model turned social activist who lost her left leg below the knee in a traffic accident, will be the first contestant on the show to compete with an artificial limb, the Walt Disney Co.-owned broadcaster said.
Also in the line-up will be world female boxing champion Laila Ali, the daughter of Muhammad Ali, country music star Billy Ray Cyrus, former 'N Sync boy band member Joey Fatone, Olympic speed-skater Apolo Anton Ohno, former basketball star Clyde Drexler, TV-radio host Leeza Gibbons and Vincent Pastore, who appeared on The Sopranos.
The cast for the upcoming fourth season of Dancing, which premieres in the US on March 19, was announced on the Good Morning America programme.
During its fall 2006 run, Dancing ranked as the most watched unscripted show in US prime time, and No. 2 overall, averaging 20.7 million viewers a week.
Mills, who separated from McCartney last year in what has grown into a highly publicized and increasingly nasty divorce, will be paired on the dance-contest show with professional dancer Jonathan Roberts. Besides her acrimonious split from Sir Paul, Mills is best known these days for her role as a UN goodwill ambassador and activist for Adopt-A-Minefield.
- REUTERS
