Giada De Laurentiis is giving fans a glimpse of a physical injury she’s faced while rehearsing for Dancing With the Stars season 35.
“So I had a great day at rehearsals today. But sadly, I busted my toe,” De Laurentiis, 56, said in a Monday, September 7, Instagram video. “Take a look.”
While sitting on a couch, De Laurentiis then turned the camera to show her bruised toe.
“As you can see, it’s quite purple and it wraps all the way around. I’m, for sure, going to lose my toe nail, I think,” she said. “I don’t know. It hurts, but we’ll figure it out tomorrow. Part of the game. Part of the game!”
She captioned the clip, “You know what they say… no pain, no gain. 👠🪩.”
De Laurentiis was revealed earlier this month as one of the celebrities vying for the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy on season 35, where she is partnered with pro dancer Alan Bersten.
From De Laurentiis’ perspective, now was the perfect time to compete on the reality TV show after she recently dropped off daughter Jade at college. (De Laurentiis shares the 18-year-old with ex-husband Todd Thompson.)
“I’m now an empty nester,” De Laurentiis exclusively told Us after the full cast for season 35 was revealed on Good Morning America. “I figured my daughter is going on this new adventure, so I’m going on a new adventure with Alan.”
Bersten, 32, then chimed in, “What better way to fill your time than on national television dancing in front of millions of people?”
While preparing for her first performance (ABC has yet to unveil the pair’s song and style of dance for the two-night premiere episodes), De Laurentiis shared that she’s staying in her lane — and trying not to think about her fellow competitors.
“We can’t compare [ourselves] to other people because we have professional dancers as competition,” she told Us. “Honestly, how could we, right? I would lose my mind if I tried to compete against Jenna Dewan or Harry [Shum Jr.] or even Julia Stiles because they all have background in dance. I do not, so it’s our journey. We’re going to stick to that, and I think I’ll keep my sanity that way.”
Dancing With the Stars season 35 kicks off with a two-night premiere on ABC and Disney+ Tuesday, September 15, and Wednesday, September 16, at 8 p.m. ET.
