Brooke Burke recently disclosed that she considered a “love affair” with Dancing With the Stars partner Derek Hough — and her fiancé, Scott Rigsby, was not taken aback by the confession.
“Scott’s so cool. I mean, he’s so easy,” Burke, 52, exclusively told Us Weekly on Wednesday, October 18, while promoting the upcoming season of Penn & Teller’s Fool Us. “He’s not in the business [or] in the industry, thank God. First of all, we have impeccable trust and boundaries and such an adult, respectful relationship. There’s just flow and it’s easy and he’s very mature. I think when you trust someone, there are no issues and we really have that.”
Burke appeared on Cheryl Burke’s “Sex, Lies, and Spray Tans” podcast earlier this month, admitting that she thought about having an affair with Hough, now 38, had she not been married to David Charvet.
Burke further explained to Us that she “knew what [she] was saying,” when she recorded the podcast episode.
“It was just honesty. I’m very honest. Most people wouldn’t say it, but it’s real and I believe in chemistry and life and everything that I do,” she said on Wednesday. “I kind of do everything with that commitment. So, if I wasn’t passionate about … our connection, I don’t think it would have been [fun] to watch.”
Burke also has “no regrets” in her comments because she was sharing the truth about “the relationship in the intimacy when two people come together.”
“Dancing with someone is so central and it’s so passionate and it’s such an intimate connection,” she told Us. “And in addition to that, on the show, you’re facing your fear, you’re dealing with challenges, you’re doing things you’ve never done before, you’re dancing, you’re in someone’s arms for three months — seven days a week — [and] you’re breathing with them, looking into their eyes. So, it’s so natural to have chemistry.”
Burke added: “Things happen because you’re connected in ways that couples don’t connect. Marriages don’t always connect in that way, and I actually really appreciated that. I think as a celebrity on the show, that was the question: Who falls in love first or easier? The celebrity. It’s so foreign to have such a physical connection with someone. The pros do it all the time. That’s their job.”
Burke, who later went on to host DWTS for seven seasons, and Hough ultimately took home the mirrorball trophy during season 7.
While trying to explain her comments to Rigsby, Burke made sure to recount her meaning — that she and Hough had chemistry only on the dance floor — in “a very grownup way.”
Rigsby proposed to Burke in September 2021 after two years of dating, and they are “definitely committed” to getting married in 2024.
“It’s a lot to plan a party for yourself and to plan a wedding at my age. I’m really committed to spending more time this season trying to get ready for it,” she told Us, teasing that she wants an “intimate” ceremony that is “meaningful.” Burke added: “I want it to be spiritual, and I want it to be really special and memorable.”
Burke further gushed that the pair’s respective daughters — she shares Heaven and Shaya with Charvet, 51, and Neriah and Sierra with ex-husband Garth Fisher, while Rigsby has a son and a daughter from a past relationship — are “really into” the planning process. “Everyone’s very opinionated,” Burke quipped. “I didn’t have a wedding before, [just] a small [marriage] ceremony. So it’s kind of a big deal.”
In addition to planning her wedding, Burke is gearing up to host season 10 of Penn & Teller’s Fool Us magic show.
“I love live television, [and] I love working with a live audience,” she noted of joining the CW series. “I didn’t know what to expect. I actually genuinely love magic, but it was fun to be on a show and to have my mind blown day after day after day. … I was hosting the show, but I was also enjoying the show as an audience member. I felt, like, I had that element of surprise and mystery and all of the things that magic brings.”
Penn & Teller’s Fool Us season 10 premieres on Friday, October 27, on The CW at 8 p.m. ET.
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
