New dad alert! Cheryl Burke gushed exclusively to Us Weekly about what an “amazing father” Artem Chigvintsev will be to his and Nikki Bella’s son.
“Art has always been consistently such a great guy and super sweet,” the California native, 36, said on Monday, August 3, while promoting her Diamond Art Club collection.
The season 2 winner “cried” when she heard about the Total Bellas star’s Friday, July 31, birth, but has yet to speak to the new parents. “I talked to him about a month into the [coronavirus] pandemic,” Burke explained to Us. “He’s very excited. He was nervous, obviously.”
The I Can Do That alum has known Chigvintsev, 38, the “longest out of everybody” on Dancing With the Stars. “Artem used to live with me back in the day, like when I was 13 years old and he first moved to the state,” she said. “He actually used to compete ballroom with one of my good friends that lived in the Bay area at the time. We were so young and I’ll never forget it.”
The Russian dancer debuted his newborn via Instagram on Sunday, August 2. “Please welcome our precious baby boy Chigvintsev,” he wrote. “Proud of my love @nikkibella.”
The following day, his fiancée, 36, tweeted that Chigvintsev was already “the best dad,” writing, “Our baby boy is so lucky. I didn’t think I could love him even more, but goodness I fell more in love with him the past few days. I feel so blessed. Can’t wait for the day to officially makes us a family.”
As for Burke, her and her husband Matthew Lawrence’s pregnancy plans are “on hold” amid the COVID-19 spread, but they’re putting their parenting skills to the test with a puppy.
While quarantining, Burke tries to keep the pooch away from her Diamond Art Club projects with a “sectioned-off” area so she can do the “relaxing” work alone. “We don’t want our dog pooping out a rhinestone,” she joked with Us.
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
