DWTS Pro Lacey Schwimmer Says Maksim Chmerkovisky’s Comments on Her Weight ‘Broke Her Spirit’

Lacey Schwimmer gets candid about her time on the Dancing with the stars ballroom.

Schwimmer, 35, appeared as a professional dancer on the competition series for six seasons. Although she was last on the show in season 13 when she competed against Chaz Bono, she reflected on her experience during the last episode Sex, lies and spray tanning podcast.

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Part of her conversation with host Cheryl Burke included a review of previous comments DWTS professionals Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Louis van Amstel spoke about her weight at the time.

“First of all, no one should ever, ever discredit someone based on their appearance. I don’t care if you’re skinny, fat, whatever. Ugly face, chipped teeth – I don’t care what you look like. It has nothing to do with your talent or ability or what you’re hired for,” she said.

Lacey Schwimmer and Maksim Chmerkovisky on DWTS.

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The performer said her time on the show was before “women could speak freely” and celebrate their bodies. While she’s noticed how body standards have evolved in the dance community, she said hearing negative comments from people she “looked up to” at the age of 19 “literally broke my spirit.”

“Oh my God, it destroyed me,” Schwimmer, who told Burke that she had a No. 6 during her time on the show, later added. “I remember crying and crying and crying.”

Chmerkovskiy, 43, and Van Amstel’s comments stem from a 2008 interview. TV guide.

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“When I first saw these women this season, I said, ‘Guys, you know the camera adds 10 pounds.’ You have to do something about this,’ Chmerkovskiy told the paper Los Angeles Times.

Dancer Lacey Schwimmer (L) and actor Kyle Massey in 2012.

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Van Amstel, 51, shares similar feelings. He said TV guideaccording to Los Angeles Times, “If [the viewers] watch someone who dances and is still heavy, it can get discouraged. You have to take responsibility.”

Burke, 39, used her podcast to comment on the current season DWTS and share the experiences of former contestants as well as your own.

Before leaving, in a conversation with journalists in November 2022, she opened up about how the series changed her life.

“It’s easier for me to say that if it wasn’t for a show like this, a family like this, I’d probably be very upset and depressed, but this show is something I grew up with. It’s been a part of my life forever,” Burke said.

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“It’s also been different chapters of my life every time I’ve worked on the show, whether it’s celebrating my engagement, or getting married, just married, now newly divorced. There’s one common denominator here, and that’s Dancing with the Stars”, she added.

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Source: HIS Education