Cheryl Burke Reveals She Thought Fiancé Matthew Lawrence's Proposal Was a Breakup
Cheryl Burke was anticipating a proposal from Matthew Lawrence but admits she believed he was breaking up with her when he finally popped the question.
The Dancing with the Stars coach revealed in an interview on PeopleTV’s Chatter on Wednesday that Lawrence had waited so long in proposing she almost believed he wouldn’t do it until he finally got down on one knee.
Lawrence popped the question on her 34th birthday on May 3 but had arranged for her family and friends to visit them the day before.
“I kind of had a feeling that if he was going to do it, he was going to do it right now,” Burke said, referring to the night of May 2 when the couple was surrounded by loved ones.
“Nothing happened. Then it was midnight and I thought, it’s my birthday, technically, and I was like, ‘For sure it’s gonna happen now!’ Nothing happened,” she said. “We went to the Montage in Laguna [Beach] just for the weekend… and every two seconds there were being flowers delivered.”
“And I thought, ‘For sure [it’s] Matt, this is Matt, nope, this is Matt.’ It wasn’t. I was like, ‘This guy didn’t even get me a card.’ He didn’t even say, ‘Love, Matt. Happy birthday!” Burke continued.
The TV host explained as she was getting ready that night that Lawrence was “rushing me out of the shower” which was strange considering “he has no idea or sense of time.”
“The fact that he was like, ‘Hurry up’ [was out of character],” Burke said. “[He said], ‘You need to come out right now.’ I come out and this beautiful song plays — a song which I’ll walk down the aisle to — and there was just a letter there.”
The letter caused Burke to pause and wonder if that was the end of her relationship.
Live on Chatter: Cheryl Burke Reveals All About Her Wedding
“I thought, ‘Oh no, is this like a breakup letter? Or, like, what is happening?’ He goes, ‘Just read it,'” she said. “And I open it, [it’s] fine print — my eyes are pretty bad — he’s like, ‘Just read it.’ So I bring it up to my nose, and it says, ‘Love you always and forever.’ And I turned around, he was on one knee and we were just very emotional.”
The couple initially met in 2006 through Joey Lawrence, Matthew’s brother and a contestant on the third season of DWTS. They first started dating in February 2007 and were in a yearlong relationship before calling it quits in February 2008.
The two later reunited in February 2017. On PeopleTV’s Chatter, Burke said their second go at their relationship was due to a renewed “commitment.”
Watch more from Cheryl Burke‘s interview on Chatter on PeopleTV.com or download the PeopleTV app on your favorite device.
“I’m in my 30s and with Matt, my fiancé now, it was kind of like: ‘We’re doing this, it’s a commitment where we want to move on to the next level in our lives,'” she said. “I want to have a family, he does too.”
She continued. “We want to get married and have kids and in order for that to happen — it’s like when two adults make a decision — it’s a commitment and so let’s move forward. Let’s not just stay in one place for the rest of our lives.”
While their breakup was a bump in their relationship journey, Burke revealed their first split was what caused her to know Lawrence was “the one.”
“It’s the fact that we went through so much together — and we have each other’s back. It is like ride or die, we are together, we are in this and we can get through anything and for me, it’s all about loyalty and trust,” she said.
“He’s the first man I can say that I feel safe with and that I know will always have my back no matter what,” she added. “He’s normal, he’s grounded, he’s got a huge heart. It’s hard to find.”
While the two are basking in engagement bliss, Burke is already thinking about what she wants for their nuptials, saying the two “definitely want to do a summer wedding.”
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“Hopefully next year. I don’t want to put any pressure on a date or a place right now,” she said. “We just went to the Philippines where my mom is from. We went to this beautiful island.”
While she’d love to say “I do” in her mother’s homeland, Burke said a destination wedding might not be feasible for everyone in their respective families.
“The only thing about that is that not every one of our family and friends may be able to come, so we don’t know yet exactly. But definitely a summer wedding — we’re trying to avoid a winter wedding,” she said.
Catch PeopleTV‘s Chatter live on Twitter and streaming on PEOPLE every weekday at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. Join host Rocsi Diaz as we break down the latest trending moments in celebrity and entertainment news and interview today’s buzziest stars with viewer tweets driving the conversation.
