Cheryl Burke Recalls Believing She Was Too Fat for ‘Dancing with the Stars’

Cheryl Burke is speaking candidly about her body dysmorphia.

Burke, 39, looked back on her time on Dancing with the Stars during a conversation with Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes during the April 16 episode of their Amy & T.J. Podcast. The professional dancer spoke about the body dysmorphia she struggled with while on the ABC reality series.

After Holmes, 46, asked Burke how long it would take her to hypothetically get back into the swing of the show, she shared that she’d be able to “train” him. Despite her confidence in successfully training Holmes, she added she’d have to change her physical appearance.

“As far as wearing one of the outfits, I would probably get on some, I don’t know, some sort of strict diet,” she said, before quickly adding, “But that’s my body dysmorphia that I’ll forever have… I’m very open with that.”

She continued to speak about her experience as one of the series’ professional dancers, explaining how the experience contributed to a negative perception of her body.

“I started when I was 21 years old,” Burke recalled. “I went through this horrific like, ‘She’s too fat for TV too.’ ” 

“I was growing into who I am as a woman as well. And with that, I did gain weight,” she explained.

Around season 7, she had an unforgettable experience, Burke said. “When you first see yourself like being talked about like on KTLA, you’re like, ‘Wait, what is this?’ ”

Robach, 51, quickly asked, “Wait, what? You were being talked about? What your body looked like?”

“Yeah,” Burke confirmed.

“Who was saying that you were overweight?” asked Robach.

“I think it was just people like people that watch the show. I mean, you know, I did gain a few pounds during the hiatus. Yes, I mean, naturally right like we do,” Burke said, adding, “But like, I am curvy in comparison to a lot of the other professional women.”

Burke continued to share how “whenever [she] did gain weight, it was a thing.”

As she shared her experience, she added that she believes “it was a thing that back in the day,” noting that she thinks “nowadays no one would ever say anything. Times have changed.” 

Burke was not pressured by the show to fit into a certain size or lose weight, but rather that it was her own personal “self-hate” that she had for herself “at that time,” she said.

“I’m not gonna say I’m fully recovered, but I’m definitely healing,” she admitted. “That’s gonna be a forever process.”

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The Amy & T.J. Podcast can be listened to anywhere podcasts are heard.