As she dusts off her dancing shoes for Dancing With the Stars Season 30, Cheryl Burke may be competing for the Mirror Ball Trophy for the final time. During a recent appearance on The Tamron Hall Show, the 37-year-old professional dancer revealed that she might be getting ready to retire as a professional dancer after decades in the ballroom.
Burke opened up about her career and the emotional toll it had taken on her on ABC’s dance competition. Speaking to Hall on Monday, the pro dancer, who first joined DWTS back in 2006, admitted that “as a dancer, especially as a woman, our career, it doesn’t last very long.” Burke said the fact that she is 37 “and still sambaing out there and shimmying is pretty unheard of.” However, she said she is no longer “in the competitive level” as she has “to understand that I have arthritis in my body, you know, like, the pounding and pounding and pounding. [I’m] technically leading our sports players or whoever we’re dancing with, right?”
Burke explained that the impact of pro dancing on her mental health, as well as her desire to start a family, has contributed to her considerations of saying goodbye to ballroom dancing for good. She told Hall that she suffers from “body dysmorphia…well, that comes with the business that also came even before I moved here to Los Angeles.” She added that she also has to consider “it’s not just me now it’s my husband and me, and what do we want for our future?” Reflecting on her past two decades on the DWTS stage, she added that she is proud of other accomplishments.
“I am grateful for that experience, but I’m not like these other girls who just had babies and can just bounce back,” She agreed. “I know my body, but I also, more importantly, know my own mental health, and if I have this body image issue that I’m dealing with, again, if this [points to her head] is not OK, I can’t perform.”
Burke is contemplating her future in the ballroom and has been confirmed to be one of the professional dancers in Season 30, her 24th season. She will be joining fellow returning pros like Gleb Savchenko and Valentin Chmerkovskiy and Sharna Burgess, and Sharna Chigvintsem. ABC has confirmed the names of the celebrities who are vying to win the Mirrorball Trophy. However, they have not yet announced the pairings. DWTS Season 30 premieres Monday, Sept. 20 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.