Cheryl Burke Mourns The Death Of Her Father: See The ‘Dancing With The Stars’ Pro Dancer’s Emotional Tribute

Cheryl Burke is mourning the death of her father, Steve Burke. The longtime Dancing With the Stars pro dancer shared the sad news of her 67-year-old father’s death on social media less than a week after she revealed she was going through “some personal things” in her life.

Last week, Cheryl Burke took to Instagram to tell fans that she would be taking a break from social media for a little while, and many concerned followers wondered what was going on with her. In her original post, the two-time Dancing With the Stars mirrorball champion reminded fans to tell the important people in their lives how much they love them each and every day. That gave a clue that the personal issues had something to do with someone important in Cheryl’s life.

Now, Cheryl Burke is revealing the sad reason behind her cryptic post. Cheryl posted a throwback Instagram photo of herself as hugging her dad as he kissed the top of her head. Cheryl captioned the sweet photo with: “Dad, if I had one more chance to have you here with me today, I would do things differently. Every day I would tell you how much I love you. I miss you so much already. Rest In Peace Stephen Louis Burke April 13, 1950 – March 9, 2018.”

You can see Cheryl Burke’s emotional Instagram tribute to her late father below.

Cheryl Burke has not said a lot about her father in past interviews and she did not elaborate on his cause of death. According to People, Cheryl’s dad Steve moved to Thailand when she was a young child and her mother, Sherri, remarried. Burke also told the magazine that her parents’ divorce was one of her earliest challenges in life.

Cheryl was just a toddler when her mom Sherri, a nurse and entrepreneur from the Philippines, split from her father, Stephen, a lawyer from New York City.

“I felt so abandoned,” Cheryl later said of her parents’ divorce.

In 1993, Cheryl’s mom remarried and the future pro dancer forged a close bond with her stepfather, Bob Wolf. Cheryl went on to call her stepfather “Dad” and she has credited him for getting her started in her career as a dancer.

“My mom is Filipino and my dad is half Russian and half Irish,” Burke told SFGate of her biological parents. “My mom and dad divorced, but my stepdad — who’s just amazing — wanted to get into dancing with my mom just for fun. I started taking lessons just to see if I liked it, but then I really wanted to take it seriously, so at the age of 13 I started competing.”

Although he moved away and did not raise her on a full-time basis, Cheryl Burke seems to have had a strong bond with her dad Steve Burke. Cheryl’s heartbreaking tribute to her biological father makes it clear she had a loving relationship with him and that she already misses him very much.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSIjbJdSJE0