Who needs a Mirrorball? Peta Murgatroyd and Maksim Chmerkovskiy are waltzing on air after welcoming their first child, baby boy Shai Aleksander, on January 4. Watch the video above to see what they said about becoming parents!
The Dancing With the Stars pros announced on Tuesday, February 21, that they’ll be returning to the ballroom for season 24 of the ABC show. And while they’re excited to show off their moves again, they’re less excited to tear themselves away from their newborn son.
“I’m kind of amazed at how these things quickly change, because we were both career people for so long,” Chmerkovskiy, 37, tells Us Weekly exclusively. “And our career is a bit selfish. I mean, not in a bad way, but it’s always about you and about how you look, how you feel, because of the job requirements.”
No longer. “That’s the thing that I didn’t expect,” Murgatroyd, 30, says. “I thought before I would be like, ‘Oh my god, I can’t wait to get back to work. You know, I just want to go and, you know, he’ll be fine.’ No. I literally don’t want to leave the house to go shopping. I miss him, I miss his face every time I close the door.”
Her fiancé jokes that she starts scrolling through photos as soon as they leave Shai’s side. “I’m like, ‘Babe, you just literally fed him,'” he quips affectionately.
“I’m gonna be one of those moms that, I think, is gonna be very proud and shows him off, because I show him to everybody,” the All Things Fam and Glam blogger gushes of her little boy, who made his TV debut on Good Morning America Friday, February 17. “Every time we meet somebody — ‘Have you seen my son?'”
For more from Murgatroyd and Chmerkovskiy — including how becoming parents has changed their relationship and how the new mom is getting ready for her DWTS return — watch the video above and pick up the new issue of Us Weekly, on stands now.
