Cheryl Burke has faced scrutiny over her appearance throughout her career as a dancer — but she’s never been afraid to defend herself.
“I am done being judged,” Burke exclusively told Us Weekly in her August 2025 cover story, noting that she had been bullied online for body before and after she lost weight.
The former Dancing With the Stars pro confessed, “It’s always been this race for me to try and gain others’ acceptance rather than find it within myself.”
Throughout her career, Burke said the commentary on social media did get to her. “There were days it got really bad, and I did get depressed because it’s now on a whole other level of dehumanizing,” she shared, revealing, “It doesn’t affect me as much as it did.”
Burke, who has been open about her struggles with body dysmorphia, told Us that she no longer weighs herself, calling that mindset part of the “problem.”
“At my heaviest, I was about 150,” she said. “The last time I checked, I was 109. I feel f***ing great; my energy is on another level. That 109 doesn’t matter, what matters is how I feel.”
Scroll down to see what Burke has said about her ups and downs with her body over the years:
‘DWTS’ Spotlight
Burke opened up about having body dysmorphia, a mental health condition that causes her to see herself differently than others do, and how competing on DWTS only heightened the issue.
“I have body dysmorphia because I’m a dancer,” she said during July 2022 episode of the “HypchondriActor” podcast. “I mean, tell me one dancer that doesn’t.”
She noted, “When I look at myself in the mirror and someone says, ‘Oh, you look amazing,’ I see someone who is overweight. And in my eyes and way of judging myself, not amazing, no matter what I look like.”
Burke said outside of feeling overweight during show fittings, the criticism from viewers, social media haters and even some of her coworkers cut deep. “It was, like, a big deal, like, ‘Cheryl’s too fat for TV,’” the dancer recalled.
“And then I had a couple of my coworkers blasting my ass too. I would wake up to, like, [Los Angeles radio station] KTLA [saying], ‘Cheryl’s too fat.’”
She concluded, “The trauma of going on live television shaking my ass in front of millions of people is not helping” her mental health.
Change Is Normal
“I have been in the public eye since I was 20 years old. My body has changed over the past 20 years. My face has changed because I have changed,” Burke told her followers via TikTok in May 2025. “I have experienced so much trauma, divorce, sobriety, burn out and reinvention. This is by no means a pity party. I have healed, I have lost and I have grieved like anybody else. Maybe it shows, but I am not sorry for it. Not one bit.”
Burke told body-shamers that she was not on Ozempic and hadn’t gotten a brow lift, despite rumors to the contrary. She emphasized she was done with “cruel” comments online.
“I am still healing, still growing and still choosing to show up,” she concluded. “If you are here to speculate, compare to demand answers that you are not entitled to, then you are not welcome in this space that I have created.”
A Dancer’s Body Struggles
“I do suffer from body dysmorphia, and especially as a dancer in front of mirrors constantly — since I was a little girl,” Burke told Entertainment Tonight in May 2025. “Even before my Dancing With the Stars career, my weight has always been an issue. I think what people sometimes don’t understand is it is a lot of work [and] it takes a lot of work and it takes a lot of self-care.”
She revealed, “I have to say, in the height of my insecurity and my body dysmorphia were weekly fittings on the show. I don’t blame the show by any means, but it’s just the name of the game. We’re squeezing into these costumes, and it is what it is. It would affect me to the point where I would weigh myself constantly [and] I would travel with a scale.”
Going Z.E.N.
Burke exclusively told Us in August 2025 that she went from 145 pounds down to 109 pounds over the course of five or six years with the help of the Z.E.N. healthy eating plan. The plan delivers fresh food to her home in California and takes out the guess work of dieting, according to the reality star.
“It’s created more balance in my meals,” she said. “I’ve learned that starving myself, then eating one big meal, doesn’t work for my body. I was also not wanting to eat in front of people — that was a trigger for me. Being called out for being overweight, the last thing you want to do is shove food in your mouth in front of people, especially people who are fit and on the show with you.”
Botox, Yes. Surgery, No.
Burke took to Instagram in August 2025 to shut down rumors about her alleged use of plastic surgery. “Let’s clear this up for the 1,000th time. Botox? Yes. Surgery? No,” she wrote at the time. “Fillers? No. Scars? Nonexistent. Skin bleaching? Nope.”
The professional dancer further explained the “mystery” behind her changing appearance, writing, “My skin tone shift is just what happens when you swap tanning beds for SPF and let your natural half-Pinay, half-white self come through. That’s it. You can age gracefully and still enjoy a little Botox. Stop confusing it with plastic surgery.”
The Truth About Ozempic
The ballroom dancer shut down rumors she took the weight-loss drug Ozempic, telling Us in August 2025, “No, I have not. There’s just no way, I faint at the sight of needles.”
Burke added, “I’ve heard of side effects, people not feeling well, certain things that happen that are too gross to share. I’m not willing to feel like that. I changed my eating habits. I stopped eating past 7 p.m. and it changed my whole body. It wasn’t so much about a number on the scale as it was about how I feel.”
Did She Have an Eating Disorder?
“I actually don’t know,” Burke told Us in August 2025 when asked whether she has an eating disorder. “I think the disorder was my body dysmorphia. I definitely have body dysmorphia.”
She continued, “When I look in the mirror, especially during my fittings, let’s say for a dance costume, I’m not seeing what everyone else is. I’m seeing somebody who most likely is heavier. If I was in a dress showing my back and I saw a roll, it would ruin my day. I was an angry person when I didn’t feel good.”
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