Looking to the past. Cheryl Burke opened up about trying to embrace every emotion amid her divorce from Matthew Lawrence.
“I wanted to take a minute to talk about what’s going on lately,” the Dancing With the Stars pro, 37, captioned a makeup-free Instagram video on Thursday, March 3.
In the clip, Burke explained that she’s been taking the time to try and “feel [her] feelings for the first time,” thanks to the help of a “somatic intelligence” program she discovered through social media. “It has been an interesting journey so far, to say the least,” she added. “It’s been scary because I’m so used to pushing through because of my athleticism and dancing in general. As a competitor, you learn to push forward even if it hurts, which means you’re not listening to your actual body.”
The Dance Moms alum said she’s “taken initiative” to look inward and “not judge” how she’s feeling. “It has been very uplifting but very sad at the same time, just to really be able to take your mind out of everything and listen to your body,” she continued. “Feeling where the trauma is being held. A lot of past trauma has been coming up from my dad’s death to the abuse that I’ve endured throughout the years. But I guess you could say I’ve never really felt my feelings before. I’ve just pushed through. … [It] may seem scary, but it really is worth it in the long run.”
Burke’s candid social media upload comes weeks after Us Weekly confirmed that she filed for divorce from Lawrence, 42, after nearly three years of marriage. In docs obtained by Us last month, the ballroom dancer listed January 7 as the date of separation.
The Boy Meets World alum has yet to address his split, but Burke broke her silence via Instagram on February 24. “I know I have always said I’m an open book with you guys, I do strive to be, and in writing this I’ve realized there really isn’t an easy way to announce that my marriage is ending,” she wrote in a statement. “I hope you can understand that I will not be commenting any further at this time and am asking for understanding and privacy. Thank you all for all the kind words and support you’ve given me.”
Days later, the California native paid a visit to the Fairmont Grand Del Mar in San Diego — the same place she and Lawrence tied the knot in May 2019 — for a relaxing getaway with her dog, Ysabel.
“Cheryl’s taking this time to focus on next steps and focus on her mental health,” a source exclusively told Us of how the I Can Do That alum is coping in the wake of her split, noting that the “reason” for the breakup “was not about having kids.”
Before they called it quits, the twosome spoke openly about their family plans, telling Us in April 2020 that they put the idea on pause during the coronavirus pandemic. Last year, Burke went into further detail about the duo’s timeline.
“I do need to freeze my eggs and I’m really nervous about that,” she said on The Tamron Hall Show in September 2021. “[That probably needs to happen] this year, which would mean I have to get off of my birth control, which means I’m a little paranoid about it.”
