Cheryl Burke is looking on the brighter side following her divorce from Matthew Lawrence. The “Dancing With the Stars” alum opened up about her new outlook on life — and what caused the downfall of her marriage — in an interview with the Post.
“There’s boundaries, right? Like, I have boundaries. All of that got kind of, I guess, foggy because I didn’t really know who I was as a person,” Burke, 39, said of the relationship. “But I did know that even back then, that this just doesn’t feel right. It didn’t feel right. I knew that this wasn’t [right], whether it’s because of me evolving or him evolving or us evolving, but not together. It was important to, first of all, try, which we did.”
The “Sex, Lies and Spray Tans” podcast host insisted the exes “did it all” to make their marriage work.
“We did try. We were in therapy,” she said. “You know what? This isn’t what it was. And to walk away with no shame and to walk away with my head held up high was something that I’m proud of to this day. Because it’s not ever fun to say that you’re divorced in your thirties and I’m not the cookie-cutter social norm when it comes to married [with] kids and happily ever after. It’s just — that’s not my story and that’s okay. And I think being able to forgive myself and to just go with my gut and trust myself is a really big step for me.”
Burke and the “Boy Meets World” alum, 43, first met through Lawrence’s older brother, Joey Lawrence, in 2006 and went public the following year. They split, but reconciled in 2017 and tied the knot in 2019. In February 2022, they announced their divorce.
Amid the messy split, the exes fought in court about who would win full custody of her dog Ysabella.
“It sucks because, for me, it’s just cruel,” she told Entertainment Tonight at the time. “She’s my dog, and it was a gift from my ex, and I hope that this soon, you know, dies down, and he calls it off. Because you’re taking, like, my daughter away from me.”
“We are going to go to trial — unless he all of a sudden calls it off, but that would happen… and that will happen in January. I’m just still really hurt by the whole situation. You know, that’s my dog. Ysabella is my daughter,” she continued. “I’m a dog mom. And that’s it. I can’t even imagine my life. I mean, I could just cry right now but, like, couldn’t imagine my life without her.”
Burke would win custody, later reflecting that 2022 did “everything it could” to “break” her. Now, the TV personality is in a better place.
“It’s been a learning lesson,” she told the Post.
“Just getting to know me and my identity not defined by the outside world, not defined by ‘Dancing with the Stars.’ A lot of this heartbreak and grief that I’ve gone through with so many changes in my life was actually [worth it], though it hurt. And I’m still grieving,” she continued. “I know that without me pushing myself to make changes, there’s no growth. And I started feeling this feeling of being stagnant in every aspect of my life in 2022. And I’d say today, I definitely love myself and I’m ready to see what unfolds in front of my eyes. And I’m ready to also not shy away from who I am as a person. Whether people like it or not is really not what’s not my business, right? So it’s like, at the end of the day, I need to be able to use my platform and to hopefully relate to other women who have gone through trauma, who have gone through mental health issues in general, because I believe that mental health is a pandemic in itself.”
“I understand no one wants to talk about it, and I get it, but that’s not going to help,” she concluded. “As long as people know that they’re not alone by hearing whether it’s my voice or the hundreds and thousands of other people that are doing similar work is what my purpose is now, today.”
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