These ‘Dancing With the Stars’ Pros Are Married — To Each Other
The dance competition Dancing With the Stars television series has entertained audiences for the past 17 years. Season 31 is currently airing on the Disney+ streaming service. So far, 300+ celebrities have donned their dancing shoes and sequin outfits for a chance at the Mirror Ball Trophy. The training is intense, with rehearsals seven days a week. And some participants have had to drop out of the competition due to injuries or personal conflicts.
The professional dancers, a total of 49 to date, have the difficult task of turning a celebrity, usually with little dance training, into a ballroom sensation overnight. They have taught choreography to Oscar winners, professional athletes, television stars, and more. The pros can relate to one another and live by the old adage, “It takes two to tango.” Sometimes, their offscreen personal relationships blossom and develop into a full-blown romance, as is the case with the following high-profile Dancing With the Stars couples.
Jenna Johnson and Val Chmerkovskiy
Jenna Johnson got her start on the hit television series So You Think You Can Dance. She turned her success as the ladies’ third-runner-up in Season 10 into a professional career on Dancing With the Stars.
In 2018, after several years of on-again, off-again dating, the dancer announced she was engaged to fellow Dancing With the Stars pro Valentin Chmerkovskiy. In April 2019, the happy couple married. And in Summer 2022, they announced they were expecting their first child early next year.
The soon-to-be mom recently gushed about her husband. “He’s been such an amazing support during my pregnancy because there’s a lot of things happening to my body that are strange and not normal and he just makes me feel like an absolute queen,” she told Us Weekly. The dancer and choreographer continued, “Knowing that we’re gonna have a little human that’s ours together is really beautiful.”
Peta Murgatroyd and Maksim Chmerkovskiy
According to E! News, the relationship between Peta Murgatroyd and Maksim Chmerkovskiy is “A match made in DWTS heaven!” The professional dancers met in 2009 while performing in the Broadway production of Burn the Floor. Several years later, the dancing duo reunited on Dancing With the Stars, and in 2012 they began officially dating.
In 2015, while the couple was performing at a live production of Sway in Miami, the Ukrainian-born dancer got down on one knee and proposed to an elated Murgatroyd. In January 2017, the happy couple welcomed their first child. And in July of the same year, the pair married at an extravagant ceremony in Long Island, New York. Their relationship is still going strong despite many hardships and struggles.
Murgatroyd recently returned to Season 31 of Dancing With the Stars after a year-long hiatus. Unfortunately, she and her dance partner, Jason Lewis of Sex and the City, fame were eliminated in the first round.
Emma Slater and Sasha Farber
After four years of marriage, professional Dancing With the Stars dancers Emma Slater and Sasha Farber called it quits.
According to E! News, fans were surprised to learn of the breakup considering the couple was dancing together arm in arm earlier this year during the live DWTS tour. Fans are reportedly no strangers to Farber’s surprises. In October 2016, he shocked viewers when he proposed to Slater on live television, proclaiming in front of the audience, “Baby, I’ve wanted to do this for such a long time. I love you so, so much. Will you marry me?”
While the pair have not yet made an official statement, US Weekly reported multiple sources confirmed the split, with one saying, “They’ve been apart for many months now. They both have not been wearing their wedding rings and are each leading a single life.”
