Rumer Willis has a lot to thank Val Chmerkovskiy for, but mostly, she’s lucky to have just met the Dancing With the Stars pro. While chatting with Us Weekly at the StarShop app launch party in New York City on Wednesday, June 3, the DWTS Season 20 Mirrorball winner gushed over her partner.
“Honestly, I think Val gets a really bad rap because I feel like people only see him as this hardcore, I-always-take-my-shirt-off…very macho guy and…he’s such an incredibly intelligent person and he’s so sweet and so loving,” Willis told Us. “I feel like the heart that he has, people really don’t get to see, and I feel so lucky that I got to spend the time with him and really see that side.”
“I said it on the show, but to have someone that believes in you so hard even when you have moments of such painful self-doubt is really incredible,” Demi Moore’s eldest daughter added. “After an eight hour day, we’re both exhausted and we’re doing a routine and he could have easily said, ‘You know, it looks great babe. Let’s go home.’ But he didn’t…because he cares enough to know I could do better and that was amazing.”
Willis who blew the competition out of the water, will be joining Chemrkovskiy, 29, during the show’s summer tour, Dancing With the Stars Live! Perfect Ten Tour — another aspect of the show she’s thankful for.
“I was so bored the week that I stopped dancing,” Bruce Willis’ daughter explained. “You do this incredible journey and it’s so intense for three months and then all of a sudden you win or your part of the show stops and you’re just done, so I literally started cleaning my whole house…I had so much energy I didn’t know what to do with…so I asked about going on tour,” the 26-year-old told Us. “I just thought what a great opportunity, I have this new skill and it’s like a new toy to play with.”
