Cheryl Burke spent half her life as a professional on Dancing With the Stars, so retirement has been fairly a transition.
“This has been the worst divorce as a result of … although it was my selection, it doesn’t matter. This was part of my life [for] nearly half of my life,” Burke, 39, solely instructed Us Weekly whereas selling her new podcast, “Sex Lies and Spray Tans.”
Burke — who left DWTS two months after her divorce from her husband of three years, Matthew Lawrence, was finalized — takes a glance again at Dancing With the Stars via the years on the iHeartMedia podcast, which debuted on Monday, September 18. The former forged member speaks to a number of DWTS alums, beginning with the very first eradicated star, Trista Sutter.
“I believe doing this podcast, although, helps me grieve in a bizarre method,” Burke instructed Us. “I can’t run away from the truth that this has been part of my life, nor would I need to. I’m by no means going to chunk the hand that feeds me nonetheless to this present day. And additionally, that is my household — regardless if it’s dysfunctional or not — they noticed me develop up in entrance of their eyes. And similar factor with the followers, which is why I do consider, I really feel like I owe this to them.”
The upcoming season of DWTS would be the first since Burke retired in November 2022 on the finish of season 31. She appeared on 26 seasons of the ABC sequence.
“This has been one of many absolute hardest choices of my life & I’m additionally assured that it’s the proper one,” she wrote through Instagram on the time. “This present has been my 2nd household since I used to be 21 years outdated. The forged, crew & followers have seen me via my highest highs & a few of my lowest lows, & I actually don’t know who I’d be right now with out them.”
While talking with Us lately, Burke defined that whereas she loves the competitors present, she needs to transcend the ballroom. “I’m not right here to bad-mouth the present, by any means,” she defined. “I’ll all the time be Dancing With the Stars‘ No. 1 fan, however I don’t consider that we’re doing our followers justice by simply displaying them a minute of that package deal previous to our dwell efficiency, after which we go darkish after the season’s over and that’s it. And they need to hear personally from every of us.”
Cheryl Burke. Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images
She hopes to dive into the journeys of professionals and stars who didn’t get a ton of air time. “If they get eradicated first, you don’t even get an opportunity to be on their journey,” Burke emphasised.
When a pair is eradicated, rivals are sometimes caught up within the feelings of claiming goodbye to the ballroom. Burke needs to make it clear that their tales didn’t finish when the cameras turned off.
“We don’t get an opportunity to speak concerning the nitty gritty particulars as a result of everybody will get so emotional. You see us all, blood, sweat and tears, and then you definately’re like, however why?” she instructed Us. “No one understands why we like it a lot and why we’re all vying for this mirror ball trophy. But actually it’s larger than that and no person understands. And so I’m right here simply to actually discuss all of it and my visitors have been up to now, so open with their experiences.”
Being completely sincere doesn’t all the time include a G-rating, Burke warned Us.
“Though it might appear catty, it’s not by any means. This is simply the reality,” Burke added. “I’ve all the time stated Dancing With the Stars wants a present referred to as Dancing with the Stars After Dark as a result of we’ve got a lot to speak about. Whether it’s Disney-appropriate — in all probability not, which is why it might be After Dark. But that is what this podcast is, and I believe we do owe it to our loyal followers and to our new followers. Absolutely.”
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New episodes of iHeartMedia’s “Sex, Lies and Spray Tans” drop weekly.
Reporting by Christina Garibaldi
