DWTS Pro Reveals How She Healed From Heartbreaking Loss

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Heavy/Getty Dancing With the Stars cast members.

Jenna Johnson revealed how she coped with a miscarriage two years before welcoming her son, Rome, with her husband, Val Chmerkovskiy.

The “Dancing With the Stars” pro dancer opened up in a May 2023 interview with Romper to reveal that dancing with JoJo Siwa on season  30 of DWTS that helped her heal from the heartbreaking loss.


Jenna Johnson Said “Dancing With the Stars” Season 30 Was “The Best 3 Months” of Her Life

In the interview, Johnson revealed that after suffering a miscarriage in 2021, she fell into “a downward depression.”  Her sadness over her pregnancy loss also made her “unmotivated” to dance.  “There was suddenly this weird relationship with my favorite thing to do and what I’m so passionate about doing, which was really, really hard,” she said,

But when DWTS producers approached her to be one half of the show’s first-ever same-sex couple, she was up for the challenge. For season 30, Johnson was partnered with singer JoJo Siwa and the two landed in the runner-up spot that season. The partnership got Johnson back into dancing and helped her work through her grief.

“That season, I feel truly healed me,” she told Romper. “It was the best three months of my life and everything that I needed in that moment.”

After Johnson and Siwa performed their first DWTS dance together in September 2021, the pro dancer praised the history-making partnership.

“History made,” Johnson wrote on Instagram at the time. “There aren’t enough words to express my absolute admiration for you. The moment I met you, I knew that you were going to change my life. You are full of love, laughter, positivity, and GLITTER!!!”


Jenna Johnson Was ‘So Angry’ After Her Miscarriage

Jenna Johnson

GettyJenna Johnson

Johnson kept her earlier pregnancy and miscarriage story to herself for two years. When she did speak about it in an interview with “Good Morning America,” she revealed that early in her first pregnancy she began to bleed while dancing with her husband in preparation for a show in Dallas, Texas. “And immediately, just my heart dropped,” she said. “I could see it in his face just went white. I sprinted to our hotel room, and I lost the baby in our hotel room.”

No one knew that we were pregnant,” she said. “And we were so excited.”

Johnson explained that she decided not to tell anyone about the miscarriage either, which took a toll on her. “I was so, so sad. I was hurting so much,” she said.

The experience made her not want to dance at all.  “I didn’t want to dance for a while,” Johnson said. “I was so angry. But then it kind of became my escape. I was so, so sad. I was hurting so much.”

Johnson told Woman’s World that she immediately connected with Siwa. “JoJo and I immediately hit it off and it was insane,” she said. “I had never been so connected to a partner before on the show.”

Johnson added that she attributed the strong connection to the fact that she was dancing with a female and had a better understanding of her and her body language.

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