Giada De Laurentiis’ daughter, Jade, is celebrating her mom’s Dancing With the Stars debut.
De Laurentiis, 56, took to TikTok on Thursday, September 17, to share a video of Jade, 18, and a friend watching her performance during night two of the DWTS season 35 premiere.
“She’s got it,” Jade said as she watched De Laurentiis and her partner, Alan Bersten, dance to “Venus” by Shocking Blue on Wednesday, September 16. “Oh my God, she’s doing it!”
Jade continued cheering for her mom throughout the video, even becoming emotional at one point as she repeated, “Oh my God, I’m so proud of her.”
“Guys, she did not think she could do that,” Jade told the camera. “I really hope that everyone sees how hard she worked.”
While watching the judges critique De Laurentiis, Jade added, “She kicked the tango’s butt.”
After dancing on Wednesday’s episode, De Laurentiis became emotional as she gave a shout-out to Jade — who couldn’t attend the live taping due to starting college at New York University — and shared that her daughter had inspired her to step out of her comfort zone and join the show.
“I’m now an empty nester,” she exclusively told Us ahead of the season premiere. “I figured my daughter is going on this new adventure, so I’m going on a new adventure with Alan.”
After her debut on Wednesday, De Laurentiis exclusively opened up to Us about why she became emotional during her post-dance interview with Julianne Hough.
“I think it’s the scores, but I think it’s also just, like, all the anxiety and the self-doubt and all that stuff that kind of comes up, you know,” the Italian-American chef shared. “There’s, like, beautiful young girls that you’re dancing alongside. It’s just a weird feeling that you get, and I think it overtook me. I felt like a volcano exploded, and I was trying desperately to hold it in.”
De Laurentiis also shared that she received praise from Jade, whom she shares with ex-husband Todd Thompson, after her dance.
“She just texted me. I haven’t been able to talk to her after [yet],” she said. “But she texted me before, in all caps, ‘You got this,’ and I can’t say the rest.”
Two months before the DWTS premiere, Di Laurentiis got candid with Us about her feelings leading up to Jade starting college.
“To be honest, I have really sad days, and then I have really happy days,” she exclusively told Us. “I’ve spent most of my summer hanging out with her because I’m trying to hold on. I think there’s part of me that’s like, this is an exciting new chapter for her and for me, but it’s also sad that a 20-year span of being a mother is over.”
Dancing With the Stars airs on ABC and Disney+ Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET.
