Maksim Chmerkovskiy Gets New Agent: Is The DWTS Celeb Hollywood-Bound?
Maksim Chmerkovskiy announced earlier this week that he won’t be returning to Dancing With The Stars, telling hosts of The View that “I’m done dancing,” and “I feel like it’s time.” Now, The Hollywood Reporter reveals Maksim has signed with a high-powered entertainment agency, ICM Partners.
ICM Partners describes itself as one of the globe’s leading agencies for creative and technical media talent. Coming so quickly on the heels of his DWTS announcement, the new relationship could be a clear sign of Maksim’s future plans.
Chmerkovskiy is already a diverse performer and entrepreneur. In addition to his history as a dancer and his long-running DWTS gig, he owns several dance studios in the New York City area. He has had a couple of turns on Broadway and guest acting spots on television. In 2011, he was the man giving out the roses on the Ukraine’s version of The Bachelor. He described that experience to Access Hollywood as uncomfortable:
“I would probably never [have done] the show, if I had known what it was going to feel like. I may be a lot of things, but I’ve been very well raised. For me to stand there and have a lineup of people and pretty much point fingers and say, ‘You, you, you, you, not you, ’cause you’re worse than others, you don’t get the rose’… it’s crazy!”
As a DWTS professional, Maksim received notoriety for his brash personality and often less than tactful language. During his last season with partner Meryl Davis, with whom went on to win the mirror ball trophy, Maksim talked back to guest judge Abby Lee Miller after she critiqued their performance. Maksim said, “I really don’t care for anything she has to say,” prompting the similarly-notorious Miller to call him “disrespectful” to E! News.
Further explaining his DWTS departure this week on Watch What Happens Live, Maksim was blunt: “My problem is that we’re running out of legitimate celebrities.’ On that program, he also spoke out about his fallout with Kirstie Alley, his former dancing partner. Maksim is rumored to be dating Jennifer Lopez, who is a close friend of Leah Remini, whom Alley reportedly called a “bigot” for Remini’s statements after leaving the Church of Scientology. Maksim described his severing of ties with Alley this way:
“We had a great relationship … But I got a message now that I am associating with other people that she can’t be associated with, I am no longer to be spoken with, and sorry, but it is what it is.”
As for new projects in light of Maksim’s new representation, the star was coy when talking on The View. He laughed when co-host Sherri Shepherd asked if it was because Lopez “needs his services.”
[Maksim Chmerkovskiy Image: Google]
