DWTS Family Rallies Around Retired Pro Amid ‘Difficult’ Year

Heavy/Getty The DWTS family is supporting one of their own.

A former “Dancing With the Stars” pro has shared a life update as she heads into her sixth year of sobriety.

On July 23, 2023, Cheryl Burke shared a post on Instagram that contained a lengthy caption about her journey and how she’s been feeling. In the comments section of the post, she received a great deal of support from the friends she’s made in the dance world, amongst others.

“To say this journey has been easy would be a complete lie. Have I always wanted to stay sober and never thought about drinking? Of course not. I’ve faced some very difficult years this last one being one of them and that idea of having a drink to disassociate from myself has crossed my mind quite a few times this last year. But I know where that takes me, and I know that drinking always made my problems worsen,” Burke wrote.

“Overall, I have a life and developing relationship with self that I didn’t know could exist before. And I owe that to God and to my recovery. If you have thought about entering this journey, I strongly suggest you see what it can do for you. Sending you all love. Thank you for sticking by my side these last 5 years,” she added.

Here’s what you need to know:

Cheryl Burke Received Dozens of Uplifting, Positive Reacts on Her Post

Burke received a great deal of support from friends, colleagues, and fans as she shared a candid, vulnerable post about how she’s doing on her sobriety journey.

“You’re killing it babe,” Peta Murgatroyd wrote, adding a red heart emoji.

“You are you phenomenal,” said Emma Slater. “So proud of you,” she added.

Meanwhile, ballroom pro Daniella Karagach dropped a purple heart emoji in the comments section of the post while Hayley Erbert also showed support by posting emoji.

“So very proud of you,” former “Dancing With the Stars” contestant Ricki Lake’s comment read.

At the end of season 31 of DWTS, Burke announced her decision to leave the ballroom after 26 seasons.

“If I were to just talk as an athlete, a dancer and a woman, my time has been up. I’m 38 years old. When I came on as a competitive dancer at 21, It was a different story,” she told Variety after making her announcement during a live show. “That decision in itself was really tough for me — to put everything aside, to come [to L.A.] and do a TV show that I had no clue was gonna last for this long. My intention was just to be here for one season and move back,” she added.

Cheryl Burke Has Been Sober Since 2018

Burke has been very candid about her sobriety journey, which started in 2018. “My father passed away — and then my dad was an alcoholic — so either I was gonna crash and burn and check myself into rehab or I was gonna just quit cold turkey,” Burke said on the “Lady Gang” podcast in September 2020, according to Us Weekly.

During that same podcast, Burke revealed that it was actually at her engagement party — when she got engaged to Matthew Lawrence — that she made the decision to give up drinking alcohol. The two would end up getting married in 2019 and divorced three years later.

While Burke has been able to stick to her plan, she often recognizes that it’s not always easy for her and she’s constantly identifying changes in herself — some that she really likes.

“It’s been 5 years since I started my recovery journey. As I enter my 6th year sober, I have found a newfound purpose that I hadn’t thought ever existed. The interesting thing about sobriety is that it’s not always a perpendicular path of progression & like most things in life it comes with rough patches. The difference in sobriety is that I have more awareness around each struggle for example seeing people for who they are (the good, the bad, & the ugly) from people who have been a part of my life for decades, close friends, coworkers, family members, acquaintances, etc,” she said on Instagram in July 2023.

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