Jenna Johnson and Val Chmerkovskiy’s son, Rome, receives nothing but love from Maks Chmerkovskiy and Peta Murgatroyd’s two kids.
“Shai is a great older cousin, older brother,” Johnson, 29, told E! News in an interview published on Friday, February 23. “And Rome is obsessed with babies, like a little bit too aggressively, though he has a lot of passion when it comes to babies.” (Maks, 44, and Murgatroyd, 37, share sons Shai, 7, and Rio, 8 months.)
Val, 37, added that his little boy has a “strong grip” and is excited to eventually play with Rio, adding, “You can see that they’re going to be so much fun together.”
The Dancing With the Stars pros recently spent quality family time together by celebrating the holidays in Park City, Utah. “My favorite Christmas yet 🎄,” Johnson captioned a December 2023 Instagram slideshow, which featured pics of the couples posing underneath a Christmas tree with their kids. “Not only was this Rome’s first Christmas (which made today so magical) but I was also able to spend the day with both my families. I know that this won’t always be able to happen, so I’m soaking in these moments and memories shared ♥️.”
Peta, for her part, noted that the group had a “special holiday” in a Christmas Instagram post of her own, adding, “The kids 100% stole the show!!!
On Friday, Jenna told E! News that the holiday get-together marked the “first time” the pairs’ kids had “all been together for such a long period of time because we were both doing the season [of Dancing With the Stars] and it was chaos.”
Johnson, Val and Murgatroyd all competed on season 32 of DWTS, which concluded in December 2023. Val took home the inaugural Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy alongside his partner, Marvel actress Xochitl Gomez.
Earlier this month, Murgatroyd announced that she and Maks, who wed in 2017, were expecting their third child months after welcoming Rio in June 2023.
“We Are Having A Baby 🎉🙈🙏🏻,” Murgatroyd captioned an Instagram video of herself breaking the news to her husband by preparing two baby bottles instead of one. “Yes we know … we just had a baby … haha! This was very unexpected at (4 months postpartum with Rio) but we are sooooo happy and so ready to be a family of 5 soon!”
Maks poked fun at his wife’s pregnancy in a recent Instagram video. “Here we go again … again 🤦🏻♂️,” he wrote alongside a clip of him throwing away Murgatroyd’s pregnancy pillow before going outside to retrieve it following their baby news.
Johnson and Val, meanwhile, are currently traveling across the U.S. and Canada with Rome on the DWTS live tour. “What the past couple of mornings in rainy LA have looked like for us 🌦️,” Johnson captioned a sweet Instagram video of Val holding Rome while playing Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love” on the ukulele.
