Cheryl Burke is happy in the skin she’s in, though it hasn’t always been that way.
Amid scrutiny over the Dancing with the Stars alum’s physical appearance, Cheryl pointed out that the way she looked has always been subject to public dialogue throughout her career—and it’s taken a toll.
“I do suffer from body dysmorphia,” she told Entertainment Tonight in a recent interview. “Especially as a dancer in front of mirrors constantly since I was a little girl, and this was even before my Dancing with the Stars career.”
She continued, “In the height of my insecurity and my body dysmorphia was weekly fittings on the show. And I don't blame the show by any means—it's just the name of the game. We're squeezing into these costumes, but it would affect me to the point where I would weigh myself constantly. I would travel with a scale—like that's crazy.”
The 41-year-old spoke to how, having spent 20 years on Dancing with the Stars, the public had a front row seat to her changing body. But, as she noted, throughout such a long period of time, “People change, people evolve.”
Some of that work has been returning to a normal eating schedule, which she said had gotten turned on its head during her time on DWTS and being able to disengage from thinking about her appearance constantly.
“When it comes to being intentional,” Cheryl explained, “and now not having to be in front of a mirror every single day, do fittings every week, compare myself to maybe some other dancers, right? It's been a great detox, and—no pun intended—but it has taken a lot of weight and pressure off me. I don't even know who that girl is, in that sense, right? That constant self-hate, it was just not healthy.”
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Some of that work has been returning to a normal eating schedule, which she said had gotten turned on its head during her time on DWTS and being able to disengage from thinking about her appearance constantly.
“When it comes to being intentional,” Cheryl explained, “and now not having to be in front of a mirror every single day, do fittings every week, compare myself to maybe some other dancers, right? It's been a great detox, and—no pun intended—but it has taken a lot of weight and pressure off me. I don't even know who that girl is, in that sense, right? That constant self-hate, it was just not healthy.”
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And whereas she previously was dancing every day and staying physically healthy in that way, Cheryl has found a new relationship with working out in her years since leaving DWTS.
“Now I have to choose myself, I have to choose to be healthy,” she noted. “And it is something that I put as my number one priority, and maybe this is why I'm not dating—I'm really focusing on me and feeling good, first from within, and then whatever follows, follows.”
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