Julia Stiles and her Dancing With the Stars pro partner, Ezra Sosa, commemorated their ballroom journey with matching tattoos.
“One star for every time we got to dance together,” Sosa, 25, wrote via Instagram on Thursday, November 5, revealing he and Stiles, 45, each got eight stars inked on their wrists.
Sosa also got a small tattoo of black chair, much like the prop from their Save the Last Dance-inspired routine, while Styles added the phrase “Diva Check” near her ribs. (Stiles’ former costar Sean Patrick Thomas made a surprise onstage cameo with the dynamic duo for a jazz routine that paid homage to the 2001 film during Super Bowl Night on October 13.)
Stiles and Sosa were later eliminated after DWTS’ Disney Night on Tuesday, November 3. (Their paso doble to “Satisfied” from Hamilton earned a 33 out of 40 from the judges.)
“It’s been an incredible experience,” Stiles said on the show’s companion podcast on Wednesday, November 4, after her departure. “I learned so much physically, emotionally, spiritually, mentally, all of it. It was so much fun [and] we had so much fun.”
She added, “I got to do the dances. I got to be in the ballroom. I mean, [it was] absolutely incredible, and I’m so grateful for it. I really am. I wish that it had gone on longer, but that’s the way it goes.”
Stiles, a longtime DWTS superfan, even specifically requested Sosa as her dance partner.
“I think watching him on TV before I got to know him, [he was an] incredible dancer in so many different styles, [had] innovative choreography and] seemed like a nice guy [who] turned out to be an incredible, phenomenal human being,” she gushed. “[I] cannot believe you’re 25 years old.”
While Stiles will miss performing with Sosa weekly, she is excited to reunite with her family. (DWTS is filmed in Los Angeles, while Stiles and husband Preston Cook are raising their three sons in New York City.)
“I get to go home and see my kids. I’ve been out Dancing With the Stars, and now I’m going back to Earth,” she quipped, noting her sons were among her biggest fans. “They were so excited for me. They sent me pictures tonight of my whole neighborhood having watch parties, and they sent me a picture of everyone holding up 10 paddles.”
She continued, “I think it’s been really nice, you know, anytime that I almost felt guilty about being away from them, I just remembered that they see me being happy and challenging myself and they’re rooting for me.”
Dancing With the Stars airs on ABC and Disney+ Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET.
