Dancing with the Stars alum Cheryl Burke you’ve had enough of the online body shaming going on.
“I was ripped, the way my legs were — I was like a bodybuilder down there,” Burke, 42, said during an interview on the Wednesday, July 1, episode of the group. Dory Jackson’s interview seriesadding that he just wishes people would “stop comparing me to when I was 20.”
“If you don’t focus on your body, it changes,” he continued. “Maybe not the best, but it’s just, that’s life.”
Burke – whose fans have accused him of using GLP-1s after his years-long weight loss journey – later admitted in the same interview that the constant speculation about his body, size and weight had disturbed his mind and emotions.
“It hasn’t been too bad lately, but it’s going to get old,” he added. “People will say the same thing every time.”
Cheryl Burke
Getty ImagesIn May 2025, Burke confirmed that she has body dysmorphia, which at many times in her life has contributed to unhealthy or disordered eating habits.
“I suffer from body dysmorphia, and especially as a dancer in front of mirrors all the time — since I was a little girl,” she told Entertainment Tonight at the time. “In front of me Dancing with the Stars my job, my weight has always been a problem. I think what people don’t understand sometimes is that it’s a lot of work [and] it takes a lot of work and it takes self-care.”
In August of the same year, Burke only opened Us Weekly about his weight loss journey, reversing his journey from 145 to 109 pounds.
“I don’t weigh myself every day anymore because it was a problem. When I was at my heaviest, I was around 150,” he said at the time. “The last time I checked, I was 109. I feel great; my energy is at another level. That 109 doesn’t matter, what matters is how I feel.”
She continued at the time, “I eat licorice. I have fruit for breakfast, which is more calories than any food I eat. I have to get my matcha from Peet’s Coffee every morning, and if it’s warm pretzel bread, I’ll have it because it’s the best thing in the world. I’m very soft.”
Cheryl Burke has had enough. Throughout her career, including 17 years as a professional contestant on Dancing With the Stars (which she leaves in 2022), she has endured constant body shaming. She also suffers from body dysmorphic disorder, a severe fixation on her appearance and visual defects. For decades, he took it to heart to criticize other people. […]
Burke then described a healthy eating program called ZEN, which brought food to her home and helped her both establish healthy eating habits.
“The food is good and it’s portion control,” he said on the show at the time, revealing that he ate 1,200 to 1,400 calories every day. “I eat oatmeal with fruit every morning. I eat snacks, pita, chips and hummus. Lunch is usually a salad and then I have my dinner. It’s not junk food, real food.”
