'Dancing With The Stars' Pro Cheryl Burke Opens Up About Her Addiction
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DWTS favorite, Cheryl Burke, opened up about her sobriety journey in the latest episode of the Heart of the Matter podcast. She also penned an essay about it in Us Weekly.
The 37-year-old professional dancer has been sober for three years. And she talked about just how difficult it’s been during the pandemic.
“When I started sharing more, the pandemic was in full force, and a lot of people were falling down that dark hole,” Cheryl wrote in the essay.
Dancing with the Stars pro Cheryl Burke has been sober for three years—and she just opened up about her journey in a new eye-opening interview.
Cheryl, 37, shared during the Heart of the Matter podcast that she used to drink seven days a week. “I am definitely an alcoholic and addict, yes, 100%,” she said.
Cheryl started drinking when she was 21 after she moved to Los Angeles. And she drank “all or nothing” and could be “super mean” to herself, pushing herself to drink even more. Eventually, she was drinking so much that nothing could get her drunk. “I was a ballroom-by-day type girl and then party- or club-goer at night…for 10 years in a row,” she said.
Cheryl called herself a “functioning drunk,” and noted that she tried to set rules for herself around drinking, like only drinking after 5 p.m. and not drinking alone but she had trouble sticking to them. "I was numbing—and we all know that that's a scary place," she said. "It was survival mode constantly, seven days a week for me."
Cheryl said that she never had that one singular moment that made her get sober, but she realized she couldn’t continue living that way. Cheryl said she had a “feeling of just emptiness, of feeling there's no purpose...I felt disgusting. There was nothing there. I had no identity."
Cheryl pointed out that her father, who was also an alcoholic, was on his deathbed with a glass of whiskey, and that contributed to her wanting to stop. She even started developing allergic reactions to alcohol. It got so bad that she broke into hives after taking a shot of whiskey during her engagement party. "Obviously subconsciously something, it was my body rejecting all this poison after drowning with it for so many years," she said.
So she stopped drinking that night.
Cheryl said in an essay for Us Weekly that she only started being public about being sober a year ago. “Being public about my struggle made me hold myself accountable,” she wrote.
Recently, Cheryl celebrated being three years sober with a post on Instagram. "Today marks 3 years sober..." she captioned the photo. "3 years of growth. 3 years of change. 3 years of committing to be a better version of myself and still believing the best is yet to come. Thank you to everyone who has supported me along the way. I couldn’t do it without you ✨ #onedayatatime "
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Cheryl said that it’s been really powerful to open up about her journey, especially in the middle of a pandemic.
“When I started sharing more, the pandemic was in full force, and a lot of people were falling down that dark hole," she writes. "I also knew how intense DWTS was and knew it would be a struggle for AJ [McLean] as well, being newly sober. We had very open conversations about our pasts and I know that being under so much pressure on a show like that can be detrimental to your mental health and sobriety.”
Cheryl also wrote that her husband, Matthew Lawrence, was a big reason she decided to become sober. “I don’t think I would have done it if we hadn’t made the commitment to get married,” she said. “With him, I saw a bright future after losing my father, and I was able to come out of a dark place.”
Cheryl also mentioned that it wasn't easy for the people around her to adapt to her new lifestyle.
“There’s a lot of ‘why can’t you just have one drink?’ even from close friends when you’re at a birthday party or with a bunch of people who you used to party with,” she wrote. “It’s important for people who haven’t been sober to take the time to educate themselves on how to respect their sober friend. Your relationships will change, but you’ll find new relationships, too. I’ve made a lot of new friends who are also wanting to evolve and grow into the best version of themselves like I am. When your perspective changes, you attract different people in your life.”
Cheryl said that dancing has helped her, too. “I have always said that dance is a form of therapy. As stressful as it is, pouring myself into a season of DWTS and dedicating my time to help my partner grow, in whatever journey they are on, is what I love to do,” she said.
Cheryl ended her essay with this final note: "One day at a time."
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