‘DWTS’: Val Chmerkovskiy Admitted to ‘Twinges of Jealousy’ When Seeing Jenna Johnson With Another Dance Partner

Val Chmerkovskiy and Jenna Johnson of Dancing With the Stars tied the knot in April 2019. Both professional dancers, Chmerkovskiy and Johnson are often paired with other partners when hitting the dance floor. With rumors continually flying about off-camera romances during the DWTS competition, Chmerkovskiy shared how he and his wife don’t let jealousy get out of control.

‘DWTS’ stars have to get close to their dance partners

Chmerkovskiy is all too familiar with being the subject of gossip, especially when it comes to his assigned partners on the ABC reality show. The Mirrorball champ agreed that it’s easy to misconstrue the relationship between two people when performing certain moves.

“For a man to approach a woman in the way I do when I perform, it’s almost inevitable that people conclude we’re f*cking in real life,” he wrote in his 2018 autobiography, I’ll Never Change My Name: An Immigrant’s American Dream from Ukraine to the USA to Dancing with the Stars. “Since the only time two people come together with such high volume of passion and comfort and turmoil is if they are in a physical relationship.”

Yet Chmerkovskiy found that getting personal with your dance partner can hinder a performance, where he prefers to keep things professional.

“A good dancer can display a wide variety of emotions,” Chmerkovskiy explained. “I don’t have to be intimate with a person to create a passionate performance. In fact, being intimate, actually being sexually involved off the dance floor, can wind up being counterproductive.”

‘What happens on the dance floor stays on the dance floor’

With dance partners spending hours of time together in rehearsals, Chmerkovskiy admitted he’s had to deal with his own encounters with the green-eyed monster. Knowing the shared experience between dancers can get intense, Chmerkovskiy admitted he sometimes found it difficult seeing Johnson have that connection with someone else.

“I’ve felt occasional twinges of jealousy,” he revealed. “Not because I don’t trust her, or because I fear she’s not coming home to me, but because she might share a special moment with somebody else, and I want all her special moments to be with me.”

The DWTS star commented on his wife being in the same position when he is doing some fancy footwork with a female partner.

“Seeing her dance with a male partner, I have to consider what happens when I perform and Jenna watches,” Chmerkovskiy wrote. “The only solution I can come up with is to employ reason. Think it through. Understand what happens on the dance floor stays on the dance floor.”

Val Chmerkovskiy said his wife is ‘better’ at keeping jealousy at bay than he is

Chmerkovskiy found that his desire for Johnson to have her moment in the spotlight overrides any jealousies or concerns.

“Watching her dance with another man, I have to be willing to say, ‘This is Jenna’s moment, and I need to celebrate that because I love her,'” the dance pro wrote of his wife. “When it comes to love, you’ve got to dance in the big picture as well as the small. Sometimes it’s your moment, and you’ve got to love that, and sometimes it’s her moment, and you’ve got to love that too.”

The DWTS star credited his wife for putting his well-being above her own, where he wants to do the same for her.

“My girl can get very jealous, but she’s a lot better about it than I am,” Chmerkovskiy shared. “Jenna loves me more than she’s jealous, way more. So maybe reason isn’t the driving force, maybe it’s simply pure, unconditional love. She challenges me to rise to that same level.”