It isn't just the celebs on Dancing With the Stars who've had to overcome adversity. Dim
those ballroom lights and settle in for a deep dive into the dark secrets of the show's pros.
Cheryl Burke's long career on Dancing with the Stars began in 2006, and she continued to compete
on the show on and off until 2021, making her one of its most seasoned pros. But early on,
her secret struggle with alcohol misuse was affecting her performance.
In a September 2021 essay for Us Weekly,
Burke explained that the March 2018 death of her father changed things for her, writing,
"His death served as a wake-up call to me. I could either numb everything the
way I always had or I could finally let myself feel all of those feelings of grief — sober."
But it was an incident on Season 10 of Dancing with the Stars in 2010 that really
drove home the fact that her drinking was becoming an issue. At the time,
NFL player Chad Ochocinco was her partner.
In an October 2020 episode of her podcast, Pretty Messed Up, Burke said,
"It was still when I was drinking [...] and I remember messing up on my own
choreography. [...] I butchered my own routine when I'm supposed to be there for the celebrity."
Unfortunately, this just made her ramp up her drinking. She told Heart of the Matter host
Elizabeth Vargas that there came a time when she was drinking multiple vodka sodas every day. She
described herself as a "functioning drunk." Thankfully, Burke turned her life around and,
in 2021, she celebrated being sober for three years. She credited her decision to
talk about her journey on her podcast with helping her maintain her sobriety, writing,
"Being public about my struggle made me hold myself accountable."
How long the Dancing with the Stars pros stay in the competition
each season is tied not only to the technical ability of their partners,
but to the celebs' popularity. So when a star behaves badly, there's a major incentive for
the pro not to address it in front of the cameras. What they can't prevent or control,
however, are leaks hitting the press about the behind-the-scenes drama.
David Hasselhoff, for example, was reportedly a real hassle to work with. When the Baywatch
star competed on Season 11 in 2010, an insider told Us Weekly he was a diva. Hasselhoff would
apparently change his rehearsal schedule constantly, among many other demands,
disappointing his partner, Kym Johnson. The anonymous source went on to say,
"His people would call staffers 20 times a day. [...] At first,
Kym thought getting Hoff as a partner was quite a coup, but then quickly realized it was a mistake."
Johnson was also on the receiving end of a tantrum when Family Matters star Jaleel
White was her celebrity partner in 2012. An inside source told
Us Weekly that, after White stepped on Johnson's foot and she reacted,
"[White] got in her face. […] He was shouting at her, calling her an 'idiot.'"
When pro dancer Mark Ballas attempted to intervene, White turned on him, saying,
"You remind me of that annoying sitcom neighbor who gets [in] everyone's business!"
"Urkel, why don't you ever knock?"
"Well, if I did nobody would ever let me in."
The insider claimed that producers and even fellow celeb Donald Driver all tried to step in,
and eventually White was banned from the studio for the rest of the day to cool off. The report
about White's bad behavior got so much attention that he later went on to explain to People,
"We go to work every day, and there is an alley full of tabloid reporters. [...] I
hope people can see through it. There's no drama in my life."
Maksim Chmerkovskiy was always one of the most outspoken pros on Dancing with the Stars,
and he occasionally struggled to hide his displeasure with his more difficult
partners. After he skipped a dance with Vanessa Lachey during Season 25 in 2017
due to a "personal issue," sources told People it was actually a chemistry issue.
"According to our source, quote, 'Drama is expected and part of the show.'"
One source went on to say,
"They both have big personalities and that’s not always the best recipe for a good partnership."
But the star who really got under Maks' skin was professional soccer player Hope Solo.
Maks did his best to hide his animosity toward Solo when she was his partner in
2011. He even dropped an F-bomb while defending her after one of judge Carrie
Ann Inaba's critiques rubbed him the wrong way.
"With all due respect, this is my show, you know. I helped make it what it is."
But in her 2012 autobiography, Solo: A Memoir of Hope, the Olympian claimed all was not well behind
the scenes. Solo alleged that Maks "slapped" her face and "manhandled" her in rehearsal. She wrote,
"One day, Maks was trying to put me in a certain position and hit my stomach so hard with his open
palm that I had a red handprint there for the rest of the day."
TMZ later reported that "sources close to Maksim" denied the allegations. And as for Maks himself,
he shared his true feelings about Solo in a 2015 interview on the podcast Allegedly with
Theo Von & Matthew Cole Weiss. When Solo's name came up while playing "F—, Marry,
Kill," Chmerkovskiy said he would choose the latter for his ex-dance partner.
He went on to elaborate,
"She's just a s----y person. She lied about a
bunch of stuff. [...] I had a very tough time dealing with that."
"We didn't have a good time on the show. It's
been highly documented. [...] I don't like her, and that's the end of it."
One negative aspect of being a professional dancer that viewers don't hear about is how the pressure
to look good in those skimpy costumes can cause body image issues and trigger eating disorders.
When Spy Kids star Alexa PenaVega competed on Dancing with the Stars in 2015,
she opened up about her struggles with bulimia after movie producers told her to lose weight.
Some of the show's pros have similar stories, but rather than share them on camera, they've instead
turned to other outlets. In 2008, pro dancer Lacey Schwimmer told Access Hollywood that she developed
anorexia when she was just 13 years old, at the beginning of her dancing career, saying,
"I was really, really scary thin."
Pro Karina Smirnoff began competing when she was a toddler. She told OK! that "trying to
be in a certain weight class" made her engage in unhealthy behaviors
to lose weight when she turned pro as a teen. She recalled to the magazine,
"I didn't eat for two weeks and after that I was so nervous because I was about to do a competition
and I had no energy and my body started reacting in a way that I hadn't experienced before."
In 2008, Louis Van Amstel and Maksim Chmerkovskiy didn't hold back while telling TV Guide what they
thought about Cheryl Burke and Lacey Schwimmer gaining weight. Van Amstel came out and said,
"[People] look at this show to be inspired and think, 'If I just work hard enough,
I can look like that. If they watch someone who's dancing her butt off
and she's still heavy, they can be discouraged."
As for Maks, he recalled telling Burke and Schwimmer that they
needed to pay attention to their weight gain and warning them that:
"The camera adds 10 pounds."
Schwimmer later told Access Hollywood that Maks assured her he'd been misquoted. But afterward,
she began engaging in unhealthy behaviors in an attempt to lose weight. Luckily,
it didn't last. In 2011, Schwimmer told In Touch that she was no longer
letting anyone's body-shaming get to her, saying,
"I like having curves — I'm proud of them!"
In an October 2020 YouTube video, Burke recounted how Dancing with the Stars
producers made her and Maks put on a united front after his comments grabbed headlines:
The pros performed together on the show while Jessica Simpson sang live.
"Last time I apologized was to my grandma when she was dying."
"[Maks] went up to my mom. He was like, 'I'm so sorry I said that about your daughter.'"
Sharing the secrets of a show that producers don't want viewers to know could be a career
killer for a Dancing with the Stars pro. But plenty of the show's celebs have spilled the
tea about what goes on behind the scenes, even suggesting that some moments are fake.
For example, outspoken talk show host Wendy Williams,
paired with pro Tony Dovolani for Season 12, shared a big secret with Today, revealing that,
"When they put you in the room and you have to talk to the camera about
your experience [...] they script what you say."
Some contestants have also complained about misleading editing being used to
manipulate viewers. In 2012, NFL legend and Season 3 winner Emmitt Smith told Esquire,
"The show's producers cut it to make it look like I was going after [my competition]. And
they didn't even show the entire clip. That's the power of cutting and editing."
​​"Why would I get intimidated by an actor or Indy racer? Or a speed skater."
He and his partner, Cheryl Burke, would finish fourth during their All-Star Season.
In her book, Solo: A Memoir of Hope, Hope Solo claimed that her partner, Maks, "wanted to cause
some drama" in hopes of preventing their alleged planned elimination. Former pro Chelsie Hightower
also suggested that some dramatic moments are manufactured, telling the Sioux City Journal,
"After 19 seasons, people start to catch on as
to what works and what they think the audience wants."
America's longest-running soap opera might air on ABC, but the network probably wants to keep that
type of drama out of the Dancing with the Stars ballroom. However, some of the show's pros have
found themselves involved in real-life soap operas involving deception, infidelity, and jealousy.
In November 2020, Elena Samodanova claimed her husband, Dancing with
the Stars pro Gleb Savchenko, had cheated on her. She accused Savchenko of having a,
quote, "recent inappropriate relationship" that was the final straw, telling People,
"After 14 years of marriage, and multiple affairs, I've decided enough is enough."
Savchenko's response made it evident that Samodanova believed
he was having an affair with one of his celebrity partners on the show,
Selling Sunset star Chrishell Stause. He released a statement that read,
"My relationship with Chrishell was and remains strictly platonic."
Stause soon revealed she was actually seeing another pro, Keo Motsepe,
whom she later accused of lying to her in a series of posts on her Instagram Story. And Savchenko was
romantically linked to actor Cassie Scerbo in December 2020. Later that same month though,
he turned the tables on his ex, telling ET it was Samodanova who'd been unfaithful. He
accused her of cheating on him with Vlad Kvartin, who has appeared on Dancing with
the Stars as a troupe member. Savchenko claimed Samodanova was jealous of his career because he,
quote, "got the show and she didn't" when they both auditioned to be pros in 2013.
Artem Chigvintsev and his fiancée, his one-time Dancing with the Stars partner Nikki Bella,
might be one of the show's great love stories. But his ex-wife has painted
a less-than-flattering picture of what he was like before he joined the show.
The Russian-born dancer was once married to an American named Giselle Peacock,
also a professional dancer. The couple divorced after just eight months. And Peacock believes
Chigvintsev was just using her to get a green card. She said she supported him financially
during their marriage and claimed that he was, quote, "obsessed with fame, success and money."
But in 2020, the tables turned, and it wasn't Chigvintsev being blasted for a
past relationship. In an interview with ET, he claimed judge Carrie Ann Inaba was giving him
and celeb partner Kaitlyn Bristowe low scores. "It starts being a little personal, I feel like."
Fans piled on, believing his romantic past with Inaba had something to do with the low numbers.
Before his divorce from Peacock was finalized in 2006, Chigvintsev began dating Inaba,
and their romance lasted until 2008. It was Chigvintsev's fiancée Bella who attempted to
smooth things over between the exes after Inaba started getting hate online. Bella told Us Weekly
that she set Chigvintsev straight and even convinced him to film an apology, recalling,
"I was like, and you've made it so personal. She's getting bullied."
In an appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show, Cheryl Burke listed a number of
her Dancing with the Stars celebrity partners who've suffered injuries,
claiming she's at least somewhat responsible for them. The rigorous competition can cause
physical issues long after the confetti has been swept from the ballroom floor.
"Ray Lewis was my partner last season. First football player to ever get injured. My fault."
Other Burke partners who've gotten hurt include Tom DeLay,
who fractured both feet, and Cristián de la Fuente, who broke an arm.
"Basically, he had torn a tendon on live television."
Clarkson teased,
"I don't think that you're the best person to promote yourself as a dance partner."
"No, probably not."
Sometimes the injuries celebs suffer on the show are so serious that they
require surgery. Dirty Dancing star Jennifer Grey didn't just take home
the mirrorball trophy in 2011. She left with an extremely painful ruptured disc.
But once the competition was over, she underwent a surgical procedure to repair it successfully.
Comedian Bill Engvall also earned a few battle scars. The Blue Collar Comedy
tour star had to have knee replacement surgery after making it all the way to
the Season 17 finale. In an appearance on the Kelly Clarkson Show, he made it known:
"I don't think people understand how brutal that show is."
Derek Hough became one of the show's most beloved pros,
and his popularity helped him establish a successful entertainment career that
took him far beyond the Dancing with the Stars ballroom. During his early days,
however, he was hiding a secret: He doubted his abilities and even said that he was faking it.
On an episode of the Whine Down podcast, Hough confessed,
"I definitely look back at my approach to the show. In my earlier seasons,
I was nervous, and I was uncertain."
"I'm Derek Hough, and I may not look as macho as the other dancers,
but I'm deadly when I hit that dance floor."
While he did his best to make it look like he knew what he was doing,
Hough admitted he had never really taught or done much choreography at the time.
Perhaps this lack of confidence is what caused him to suffer a slip-up that he
later called the worst possible thing that could happen. And it happened in front of
the world. Hough remembered the moment in an interview with Us Weekly, saying,
"I dropped my partner, Jennie Garth, on live television."
In an interview with the School of Greatness podcast host Lewis Howes,
Hough admitted that being a winner on Dancing With the Stars didn't make him feel fulfilled
early on. He said there were times he got terribly depressed after a season ended,
and he confessed to being selfish by only focusing on his success. But the
Emmy-winning choreographer faked it until he made it and learned an important lesson:
One of his most valuable talents is his ability to spread joy to others.
Val Chmerkovskiy and Rumer Willis teased viewers with their adorable showmance when they paired
up for Season 20 of Dancing with the Stars in 2015. And they kept viewers guessing about the
status of their relationship all the way to the finale, where they emerged victorious.
In a May 2015 interview with E! News,
Chmerkovskiy paid his fellow champ a compliment that made her giggle. He said,
"It's awesome, the fact that I can enjoy Rumer's aesthetically proportionate,
beautiful physique. It's just a bonus."
Rumor has it that the daughter of Demi Moore and Bruce Willis became
quite smitten with Chmerkovskiy, but he eventually
let her know he wasn't interested in her romantically. A show insider told Radar,
"Rumer has been upset lately because Val finally told her he won't ever date her."
Willis reportedly got a tattoo to celebrate her and Chmerkovskiy's victory, but after he broke her
heart, she apparently couldn't bear to look at it anymore. In January 2018, a source told Page Six,
"Now she feels like a fool, so she's now undergoing this painful tattoo removal."
Willis allegedly struggled to accept Chmerkovskiy's relationship with his
fellow pro dancer, Jenna Johnson, whom he would marry in 2019. The pair now have a son together.
But Willis didn't cut Chmerkovskiy out of her life forever; in 2021, the former dance partners
reunited for a Dance & Co interview in which they took a look back at their past performances.
Chelsie Hightower's tenure on Dancing with the Stars lasted from 2009 to 2013,
and during that time, she was hiding a secret struggle from viewers. In an
interview with Dance Spirit, the choreographer revealed she had terrible performance anxiety,
as well as social anxiety. Anxiety became an unwanted part of her life when she was just a kid,
and it caused her to feel like an outcast in the world of professional ballroom dancing.
In an interview on the All In podcast, Hightower recalled:
"Knowing that I was struggling with something that I didn't see anybody
else struggling with, [...] nobody's talking about it."
Hightower thought she'd conquered her anxiety after competing on So You Think You Can Dance,
but, unfortunately, dancing on another reality series in front of millions of people didn't
just make her anxiety return; it exacerbated the problem. She admitted to Dance Spirit,
"When I moved to L.A. and began performing on Dancing with the Stars, it hit me really hard."
In her interview on All In, Hightower suggested that a difficult childhood
contributed to what she was feeling, revealing that there were times when:
"My family didn't know [...] whether or not we were going to be homeless or be able to survive."
That kind of fear made being successful a real life or death matter. Going to therapy helped
her understand and find ways to cope with her anxiety. She opened up to Dance Spirit, saying,
"I love [therapy]. It's helped me work through
a lot, especially things that might trigger those thoughts and feelings."
While Derek Hough always exuded confidence during his many seasons on Dancing with the Stars,
there was a dark period in his life when bullies made him feel insecure and fearful.
And it went even further than that, when they threatened his life. In an appearance on the
School of Greatness podcast, Hough revealed that he was just 6 years old when a group of bullies,
who were also his neighbors, began tormenting him. Hough recalled,
"They would hang me up in a tree by my feet upside down. Would spit on me;
they put a gun to my head, tell me they were going to kill me."
He also recalled how they would hogtie him and abandon him in a field.
Dance proved to be a real lifesaver for Hough. And he would go on to exact the ultimate revenge on
his bullies by becoming a massively successful choreographer, actor, and musician. He even
teamed up with TikTok star Jaxwritessongs to record a funny duet about bullying.
Hough also used his past experiences to help the victims of bullies,
giving them advice and hope while accepting the Inspiration Award at
GLSEN's Respect Awards in 2014. In his inspirational acceptance speech he said,
"Let me tell you right now, you are not alone. Seeking help requires incredible strength and
incredible courage. The most powerful weapon you have against bullying is your voice."