‘DWTS’: Cheryl Burke Confirms Why She and Matthew Lawrence Broke up Before, Shares Current Feelings About Ian Ziering
Dancing With the Stars pro Cheryl Burke and Matthew Lawrence are happily married. But their relationship hasn’t always been easy. Before the two tied the knot, Burke and Lawrence broke up. The DWTS star opened up about why she and Lawrence broke up during a game of Truth or Dare on the Pretty Messed Up podcast. Plus, Burke shared how she really feels about her former dance partner from DWTS Season 4, Ian Ziering.
Matthew Lawrence rarely partied before he met Cheryl Burke
In a previous episode of the podcast, Lawrence was a guest. He opened up about his relationship with drugs and alcohol, but also about his relationship with Burke. “I went all the way to 20 years old without experiencing anything,” Lawrence shared. He never drank, smoke, or “tried anything.” But when he booked a movie out of the country, Lawrence decided to “try everything” for the first time. “I had a huge freakout about it,” he said. “I thought I was gonna die [and] called my mom crying.”
Lawrence’s penchant for partying increased when he and Burke began dating. “Then he met me and it was 7 nights a week,” Burke said. They were first introduced when Lawrence’s brother Joey competed on Dancing With the Stars in 2007.
Cheryl Burke blames herself for her and Matthew Lawrence’s breakup
During a game of Truth or Dare on the Pretty Messed Up podcast, Backstreet Boy and Burke’s former DWTS partner AJ McLean read: “Cheryl Burke is the reason she and Matthew broke up the first time.” Burke had an interesting response: “Nailed it.”
When she joined the cast of Dancing With the Stars, Burke’s drinking habits worsened. Ultimately, those habits are what caused the couple to break up briefly. “After about a year, it just kept getting worse,” the Boy Meets World star shared. “It was now 4-5 in the morning she was coming home. It was just too much, and so I ended it.” Fortunately, the two were able to reconnect in 2016. The couple was married in May 2019, and Burke has been sober for more than two years at this point.
Cheryl Burke says there’s no ‘like or dislike’ for former partner Ian Ziering
Burke also addressed her thoughts on former DWTS partner Ziering in the episode. “There’s no like, there’s no dislike,” she said. “There’s no good, there’s no bad. I don’t want to get a letter from the BBC again.”
Burke has been outspoken about her former partner in the past. In 2016, Burke expressed her dislike of Ziering on the Allegedly podcast with Matt Weiss and Theo Von. “My least favorite [partner] would be Ian Ziering,” she said (via E! Online). “The fact that his name is not EE-AN and it’s EYE-AN makes me want to throw up.”
Ironically, Burke spoke very highly of Ziering in her 2011 book Dancing Lessons. “Ian and I discussed what my future could hold,” Burke explained in the “Thanks, Partners” chapter. Ziering helped Burke build up her confidence enough and give her the encouragement she needed to see her ideas through. But according to Burke in February of 2018, she feels truly neutral about her former partner.
