Cheryl Burke is done being compared to the version of herself viewers remember from her early Dancing With the Stars years.
The former pro dancer responded again to criticism about her appearance, saying people need to stop holding her 42-year-old body against the way she looked when she was dancing at a professional level every day.
PEOPLE reported that Burke spoke about the comments during Dory Jackson’s interview series, where she also discussed retirement from professional dancing, perimenopause and the emotional toll of online scrutiny.
Burke has addressed speculation about her appearance before, including claims about weight-loss medications and cosmetic work.
Burke Said Her Body Changed After She Stopped Dancing Professionally
Burke explained that her body is no longer under the same physical pressure it was during her Dancing With the Stars run.
She said her legs used to be extremely muscular because of the daily demands of professional dance. “I was jacked,” Burke said, according to PEOPLE, describing her lower body at the height of that training.
Now that she is no longer “pounding” on her body the same way, Burke said it is changing. She also said perimenopause has affected her body, and that viewers should not assume they understand what is happening based on photos or videos.
“Stop comparing me to when I was 20,” Burke said in the interview, according to PEOPLE.
She Said the Criticism Still Gets to Her
OK! Magazine reported that Burke said the criticism “gets to me for sure” and that the psychological stress of constant appearance commentary can take a toll.
Her point was that strangers do not need to treat her body like public property or frame every change as something that needs to be diagnosed.
The former Mirrorball winner has become a beauty creator since leaving Dancing With the Stars, and she has been open about sobriety, therapy and rebuilding her identity outside the ballroom. The online focus on her face and body has followed her into that new chapter.
She Has Talked About the Old Headlines Before
Burke has been open about body scrutiny for years. In a June essay for Glamour, she wrote about being judged for her body after making her Dancing With the Stars debut in 2006.
She recalled seeing a TV headline asking whether she was “too fat for TV” when she was in her 20s. Burke wrote that the public criticism helped deepen body dysmorphia that had already started earlier in her dance life.
PEOPLE noted that Burke also pushed back on the idea that she was healthier during those early TV years. In her Glamour essay, Burke wrote that some viewers now romanticize photos from a period when she was drinking heavily and struggling behind the scenes.
Burke Rejected the “Old Cheryl” Comparisons
Burke’s response addresses how society critiques women’s bodies as they age, lose weight, gain weight, pivot careers, change careers or simply look different than they did years earlier.
In her Glamour essay, Burke said she is sober, in therapy and no longer the person viewers remember from her earliest years on television. She also wrote that if people miss “the old Cheryl Burke,” they should unfollow her.
“I’m not her anymore,” Burke wrote. “I pay her every respect. But I’m not going back to her.”