Cheryl Burke Apologizes For Making Light Of Suicide, But Not For Ian Ziering ‘DWTS’ Diss
Cheryl Burke broke one of her own rules, and now she’s apologizing for it. After a nasty rant aimed at her former Dancing with the Stars partner Ian Ziering, Burke apologized for using disrespectful language. While she didn’t apologize for what she said about Ziering (more on that in a minute), Cheryl revealed that she is sorry for how she said it.
Cheryl Burke took to Twitter to write that she regrets that she compared working with Ziering to suicide.
“I’ve always lived by the rule that if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all. Recently and regrettably, I broke that rule,” Burke wrote. “In the heat of an interview conversation, I used a phrase that seemingly makes light of suicide and I deeply regret it.”
Burke went on to say that she knows many people who have struggled with suicidal thoughts, and she never meant to make a mockery of it.
“I have many friends and family members that struggle with depression and thoughts of suicide. To have said something that seemingly makes a mockery of what they’ve gone through and what they live with is something that I apologize for. I never meant to hurt anyone or to trivialize the topic. I was out of line and for that I apologize.”
Interestingly, Cheryl Burke’s apology didn’t say anything about being sorry for what she actually said about Ziering. The Sharknado star was the object of Cheryl’s wrath in an interview on Theo Von’s Allegedly podcast last week.
#CherylBurke is sorry, but this apology is not to #IanZiering: https://t.co/o0pV0yDycK
— Wonderwall (@Wonderwall) April 18, 2016
According to TMZ, Cheryl Burke said Ian Ziering was by far the worst partner she ever worked with on Dancing with the Stars despite the fact that they made it to the semi-finals on Season 4 of the celebrity ballroom competition. In the podcast interview, Burke made it clear she didn’t get along with the former 90210 actor.
“Spending time with [Ian] for eight to 10 hours, seven days a week for three months… made me want to slit my wrists. I was like crying to the execs, ‘is there any way to just eliminate us?’ and they’re like ‘we can’t do that.’ And I swear to God every time I’d ask, we just kept going. We lasted til the end.”
Ian Ziering has not yet commented on Cheryl Burke’s scathing remarks or her backhanded apology. But back when he was partnered with Burke, he painted a very different picture of their time together. In a 2007 interview with Buddy TV, Ian called Cheryl a patient teacher.
“Cheryl Burke is amazing. She’s very patient – which, thank God for that because I keep stepping on my own toes – and is able to communicate in a way that I understand and to show me…I’m not sure how I came to be lucky enough to be dancing with Cheryl Burke, that’s the producers, they matched everybody up.”
Ian even said he was blown away when he found out the two-time Mirrorball champion was his partner.
“My first day, I walked in meeting my partner and boom, there’s Cheryl Burke and it blew me away,” he said. “But what was so funny is that she’s won twice and I always thought maybe the producers would stick Cheryl with somebody who was a little less apt at dancing, thinking that it would give a chance to the other dancers to really flourish. So my first thought was, ‘Yeah Cheryl Burke!’ And then my second thought was like, ‘Oh my God, I’m that guy!’ But you know what, we’re having a great time.”
Cheryl Burke won the DWTS Mirrorball trophy in both Season 2 and Season 3, so her losing Season 4 partnership with Ziering broke her streak. Maybe that’s what went wrong!
You can hear the full episode of Allegedly featuring Cheryl Burke when it’s released on April 19 on iTunes.
Take a look at the video below for one of Cheryl Burke’s most memorable dances with her least favorite partner.
[Photo by Amanda Edwards/Getty Images for the NHL]
