Cheryl Burke isn’t missing a beat when it comes to shutting down speculation.
The Dancing With the Stars alum addressed comments she’s recently received over her seemingly changed appearance, clapping back at any speculation she’s gone under the knife or turned to weight loss drugs.
“So, let’s just address the elephant in the comments section. I’m not on Ozempic, I’m not sick, I didn’t get a face transplant and no I did not get a brow lift,” she said in a May 18 TikTok video of herself taking off her makeup for the day. “The level of projection that is happening and that I am witnessing is wild. The way some of you guys talk about me, it’s like you think I’m a headline or a filter. Not a person.”
Detailing how she’s seen “we miss the old Cheryl” comments, the 41-year-old pointed to her decades in the public eye—including on Dancing With the Stars and as a 21 year old on The Suite Life of Zac and Cody. Beyond that, she sees herself as always evolving, even from the person she was in 2022 when she divorced Matthew Lawrence.
“I hate to break it to you,” Cheryl explained. “That Cheryl doesn’t exist anymore. The assumptions are just exhausting as hell. The accusations are completely cruel. And the fact that so many of them are actually coming from women, that’s what is so shocking and hurtful to be honest.”
“I’ve been in the public eye since I was 21,” she continued. “My body has changed over the past 20 years. My face has changed. Because I’ve changed. I’ve experienced so much trauma, divorce—and this isn’t a pitty party—sobriety, burn out, reinvention. I’ve healed, I’ve lost, I’ve grieved like anybody else. And yeah, maybe it shows but I’m not sorry for it one bit.”
These days, Cheryl has more boundaries and discernment when it comes to speaking about her body on the internet.
“I don’t feel safe the way I used to,” she said. “There’s a tone now on certain platforms that feels more like a firing squad than an actual community. I’m witnessing women tear down other women while pretending it’s from concern.”
As such, she is not putting up with trolls wanting to weigh in on her life. Cheryl was firm on the stance she is taking moving forward on social media, and who she is and isn’t inviting into her life.
“If you’re here to speculate, compare or just demand answers that you’re not entitled to, you’re not welcome in this space that I have created,” she said. “But if you’re here to evolve, to unlearn, to support. Welcome, we’re just getting started.”
In the caption of her post, Cheryl continued to take a stand.
“Stop dissecting women’s bodies like they belong to you,” she wrote. “This is YOUR reminder: I don’t owe you an explanation for my healing or for anything quite frankly. Let this be the last time I have to say it.”
Keep reading for more of Cheryl’s candid confessions…
A Tough Break
Cheryl Burke admitted that her 2022 exit from Dancing With the Stars was “hands down” harder than her divorce from Matthew Lawrence, who she split with that same year.
“You can’t compare,” she shared in an April 2024 episode of Amy & T.J. podcast, explaining that the show was her “identity” at one point. “I credit them for giving me a voice in general.”
More Money, More Problems
Reflecting on her three-year marriage with the Boy Meets World actor, Cheryl believes her DWTS salary put a strain on their relationship.
“I learned that you can’t buy love,” she said on Amy & T.J. “Obviously, I didn’t buy my ex-husband, but I definitely would say I was the breadwinner. I supported us.”
Dance Like You Mean It
The dancer got candid about being the challenges of not being able to choose a DWTS partner as a pro dancer, sharing that “whoever walks in through that door, you don’t turn around and walk out.”
“This is showbiz,” she told Variety in 2023. “I’m an employee. You can’t just turn around and walk out and say I’m sorry. That’s not part of the contract. It’s a fine line.”
Too Hot to Foxtrot
Cheryl set the record straight on rumors that she hooked up with her Dancing With the Stars season eight partner Gilles Marini when they were training together in 2009.
“We had that thing without having that thing,” she said in an April 2024 episode of the Sex, Lies, and Spray Tans podcast. “Chemistry.”
Though Cheryl admitted that the two were “very close,” she said, “Nothing has ever happened physically between us.”
Open Book
Amid her divorce, Cheryl had a blunt message for critics who thought she was sharing too much about her personal life on social media.
“Don’t waste the time to comment because I do know for a fact that I’m helping at least one person,” she said in an E! News interview. “At the end of the day, those people I feel might need to take a note a little bit and really just understand that this is somebody’s story.”
Going Sober
Cheryl has been open about her sobriety journey, sharing that the 2018 death of her dad was what led her to abstain from alcohol.
“My father passed away—and my dad was an alcoholic—so either I was gonna crash and burn and check myself into rehab, or I was gonna just quit cold turkey,” she said in a 2020 episode of the LadyGang podcast. “That’s just my personality. It’s either black or white.”
Getting Vulnerable
And the Dance Moms coach isn’t afraid of showing her vulnerable side.
“To say that my sobriety has been easy would be a lie,” Cheryl said in a June 2021 YouTube video. “When I keep secrets or don’t tell my truth to everyone, including my followers, that’s when it gets scary for me.”
