Cheryl Burke Says Weight-Loss Transformation Came from ‘Shedding Off Baggage’ (Exclusive)

Cheryl Burke sat down with “Extra’s” Terri Seymour to talk about her wellness journey after recently shutting down speculation about Ozempic and plastic surgery. 

She told Terri, “I feel amazing. I feel better than ever.

Cheryl has shed around 30-35 lbs., but she emphasized that all the changes started from within. She spoke about major life changes, including her divorce from Matthew Lawrence and leaving “Dancing with the Stars.”

Burke shared, "I think my transformation has been more from within, you know, and doing a lot of work and healing and, you know, going through huge life changes from leaving the show, divorcing, moving all in one year. I mean, no pun intended, but it has really taken a lot of weight off of me.”

Saying body image has always been an issue, the dancer explained, "Being in front of the mirrors constantly, as far as weight or my personal story goes, it has always been an issue, whether that be from my dance coaches or just me in general, right? So it's nice to not have to think about it.”

Burke recently revealed she used to travel with scales during her “DWTS" days, telling Terri, “Oh, yeah, so I still think I have body dysmorphia. I mean, I'm currently, obviously, working through it all, but I was obsessive, you know? And I'm an addict and almost sober for seven years, but my brain is definitely, I get easily obsessed and addicted to whatever it is that I want to accomplish.”

Terri asked, “You said you went through a divorce, moved house, and retired from ‘Dancing with the Stars,' that was three years ago, but that all happened in one year, so just what kind of toll did that take on your mental state?” 

Burke replied, “I think it was a lot too soon. You know, in a span of a year, a lot of life changes. But this is my personality, it's either, you know, it's black-and-white, though we're working on the gray. There is a gray area. But I didn't feel the need to live here anymore after the show. There was no need for me to be here. That house that I owned had a lot of memories, 16 years of me being in that house."

She continued, "When I really focus on what I want in life, it wasn't to live that life anymore, and so, I make things happen and I do so quickly. When I put my mind to something and I want something to change, it just has to happen or else I get very stagnant, and I don't like that feeling.”

Terri asked her when she noticed she was losing weight, and Cheryl said, “When I was shedding off the baggage, like, quite literally… I've been in therapy, I don't know if people know this about me, but I've been in therapy my whole life, basically. And then I, when I, moving here to Los Angeles, I took it upon myself to continue my therapy journey, and it has been a wild ride for me, because it's been really tough to have to face certain, like, past traumas that have nothing to do with, you know, my world here in the entertainment industry or ‘Dancing with the Stars,’ but, like, really taking the time to do that work from within has shown, you know, physically on my body.”

She added, “And I am also obviously eating clean. I'm 41 now, and it's important for me to be a little bit more mindful when it comes to my eating habits. I intermittent-fast. I don't eat past 6 p.m. and that really, I think, also contributed to my weight loss, because I used to love to eat only at night, like, I didn't eat at all during the day. I was so unhealthy as far as, like, what I was eating when I was on the show. I just didn't think about it because I was constantly moving, right?"

She went on, “When that whole weight gain was an issue as well, that was hard for me to really process, and I really believe that now that I can look at myself in the mirror, and not because of what I look physically, but because of just the inner work that I've been doing and really love myself… I have self-worth, I have self-respect, something that I've never had before. It really has opened up, I guess, a second chapter in my life, and it's been, I mean, I feel amazing. I'm not sick, there's nothing like that. I just feel good, like, mentally for once.”

Terri asked, “Are you surprised by the public interest and the fascination by your weight loss?”

She explained, “What I'm surprised about is that it's women, and not just a few women, but, like, women that are tagging me, like, they're making posts about my looks, and I just hope that we can kind of change, I guess, just the way these conversations are happening are kind of aggressive, and I would hate for our younger generation to observe this and think that this is what's important 'cause it's not. It doesn't matter.

"I wish we could just change the actual question or the accusations to like, 'How are you feeling? How have you gone through all of this adversity? What is is that you do? Because, like, that is where we all as a community, as human beings on this planet, that's how we can relate, right? We're all in this together and it's freaking hard, it's not easy."

She told Terri, “I'm sitting here with you today to really, like I said, just change the conversation, change the subject of the conversation. It is never about the noise, right? Like, really, you find that love, you find all of that validity that I thought was something that I found from the outside, you have to build it within yourself, and this is something I've learned later in life."

She added, "I could easily just mute my comments. I can go on a blocking, like, party, you know? But I'm not as affected, I guess, by it, because ultimately, again, that's their issue, not mine. It has nothing to do with me."

Cheryl recently signed a first look deal with ABC. She shared, “There's a couple of things in the works that hopefully we can announce soon, but it's so fun… I'm going through my, I guess, chapter two in life, but also just my transition in my career. All I know is dancing and to have this freedom, I'm really starting to just get to know me and what I like, my new interests in life.”

Terri wondered, “Would you go back to ‘Dancing with the Stars’?” She answered, “Not as a dancer.”  She would be a judge or a guest judge. “I love the show, I will always love the show,” Burke gushed. "I know exactly where I came from and I'm grateful for those almost 20 years of my life, right? Like, doing what I love to do. But, yeah, I don't think I can cha-cha they way I used to."

Cheryl also revealing she's not dating anyone, sharing, “I'm totally fine with that right now, and I think this is part of just my healing journey. I think, look, I'm not not looking, but I'm not, like, searching. I'm not, like, dating apps, I'm not there, though my sister met her husband through a dating app. She's trying to slowly convince me."

As for what she’s looking for, Cheryl said, “I want someone who has his own life, who works, just the basics. We're just looking for basics. And I would say someone who is supportive, who is confident, who is just solid. I just need someone who's solid, successful, but successful can mean — I don't want that to sound, like, you know, fake or anything. But like, yeah, it'd be great if he had, you know, his own home."

She laughed, "Clearly I haven't done a lot of thinking about this."