Heavy/Getty "DWTS" winner Melissa Rycroft shared a side-by-side picture of her tween daughter, Ava.
Former “Dancing With the Stars” winner Melissa Rycroft is the mother of a pre-teen.
When “DWTS” fans saw Rycroft last, she won the Mirrorball championship with her partner, Tony D during the all-star Tony Dovolani in 2012. More than 10 years later, she’s the mother of three children: Ava Grace, 11; Beckett Thomas, 8, and 6-year-old Cayson Jack. She said her kids are starting seventh, fourth and first grade.
Rycroft, 40, shared a picture of herself standing next to Ava via Instagram on August 16. The picture on the left was from Ava’s first day of kindergarten, and the second picture was from her first day of middle school.
“First day of Kinder vs First day of Middle,” she captioned the post.
Fans gushed over the image in the comments section.
“Growing up so fast. Also wild I’ve been following you for longer than Ava has been alive,” reads one of the most popular comments.
“How did that happen ? Wow where does the time go ?” another person wrote.
“STOP IT. This makes me 😢 it’s happening way too fast,” a third said.
Rycroft said she posted Ava’s picture separately from her sons because “parents don’t walk Middle Schoolers in anymore.”
Rycroft garnered national attention in 2009 when she won Jason Mesnick’s season of “The Bachelor.” But instead of marrying Rycroft, he broke up with her for runner-up Molly Malaney, his now-wife.
The former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader competed in season 8 and season 15 of “DWTS.”
Rycroft we her current husband, Tye Strickland, in 2009, Us Weekly reported.
What’s Rycroft Doing Now?
“DWTS” fans won’t find her on the dance floor, but that doesn’t mean she’s abandoned reality TV. Even though there were rumors she was going to join the “Real Housewives of Dallas,” fans can still watch her in an unscripted series.
She’s been doing “Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders: Making the Team,” where she coaches hopeful cheerleaders as a judge and mentor, per the Internet Movie Database.
Rycroft told Fansided she appeared on season 1 of the show in 2006 and didn’t even realize it was going to be filmed.
“We walked in and it was a full-blown production,” she told the outlet. “So it was quite by accident, but man, what a ride.”
Now, she said she’s mentoring young hopefuls.
“When I was given the opportunity to come back and actually work with the girls, it was like, ‘Why wouldn’t I?'” Rycroft told Fansided. “These girls are starting just the way I was.”
What Does Mesnick Think of Rycroft Now?
Mesnick said he was “happy” for Rycroft when she got married to Strickland three years after he dumped her.
“This whole journey took her to a place where things looked like they were down for her,” Mesnick told People.
“But then she ended up with the person she was mean to be with,” he added to the publication. “That’s what life’s all about. I couldn’t be happier for her.”
When Rycroft’s third son was born in 2016, she told People that she was grateful she had Strickland as her partner.
“I’ve picked the right guy and we’ve made the right choices in life and we’re being rewarded with this amazing family,” she told the publication. “He’s a huge help and I’m very thankful for that.”