“DWTS” Pro Lacey Schwimmer Says Maksim Chmerkovisky's Comments on Her Weight 'Broke Her Spirit'

Schwimmer appeared on the reality television competition series for six seasons

Lacey Schwimmer is getting candid about her time on the Dancing with the Stars ballroom.

Schwimmer, 35, appeared as a professional dancer on the competition series for six seasons. Although her last time on the show was back in season 13 when she competed alongside Chaz Bono, she reflected on her experience during the latest episode of the Sex, Lies, and Spray Tans podcast.

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Part of her conversation with host Cheryl Burke included looking back at comments former DWTS pros Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Louis van Amstel made at the time about her weight.

"First, no one should ever, ever discredit somebody based off of their appearance. I don't care if you're skinny, fat, whatever. Ugly face, busted teeth — I don't care what you look like. It has nothing to do with your talent or ability or what you are hired to do," she said.

The performer said that her time on the show was before "women were able to speak freely" and celebrate their bodies. While she noted how body standards have evolved in the dance community, she said that hearing negative comments from people she's "looked up to" at the age of 19 "literally broke my spirit."

“Oh, my God, it ruined me," Schwimmer, who told Burke she was a size 6 during a her time on the show, later added. "I remember crying and crying and crying.”

Chmerkovskiy, 43, and Van Amstel's comments were from a 2008 interview with TV Guide.

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"When I first saw these women this season, I said, ‘Guys, you know the camera adds 10 pounds.’ You have to do something about this,'" Chmerkovskiy told the outlet, per the Los Angeles Times.

Similar sentiments were shared by van Amstel, 51. He told TV Guide, per the Los Angeles Times, "If [the viewers] watch someone who’s dancing her butt off and she’s still heavy, they can be discouraged. You have to take responsibility."

Burke, 39, has used her podcast to comment on the current season of DWTS and share the experiences of former competitors, along with her own.

Prior to her departure, she opened up about how the show had changed her life while speaking to reporters in November 2022.

"It's easier for me to say that if it wasn't for a show like this, a family like this, I probably would be really upset and depressed, but this show is something I've grown up doing. It's been a part of my life forever," Burke said.

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"It's also been different chapters of my life for every time I've done the show, whether that be a celebration of my engagement, or getting married, being a newlywed, now being newly divorced. There's one common denominator here, and it's Dancing with the Stars," she added.

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