November 17, 2024 • 45 mins
Viewers watched her grow up on the small screen as Winnie Cooper in The Wonder Years and as she quickstepped her way into the hearts of Dancing with the Stars fans in season 18.
It's been 10 years since Danica McKellar was on DWTS but she is spilling all to Cheryl! She reveals she was a fan of the show and interested in competing, but producers only called her after appearing in Avril Lavigne's edgy 'Rock N Roll' video. Danica also shares how she slyly requested Derek Hough but got Val Chmerkovskiy instead, what she thought of him and his teaching style, the moment that had her in tears, competing with a fractured rib, and her ongoing passion for dancing, which led to partnering with Gleb Savchenko for the movie Swing Into Romance!
Plus, Danica opens up about her spiritual journey, positive co-parenting with her ex-husband, and her new holiday movie, A Cinderella Christmas Ball, debuting on Great American Family on November 29!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is Sex, Lies and spray Tands with Me Cheryl
Burke and iHeartRadio Podcast. Welcome back to your favorite dancing podcast.
Our next guest is a highly accomplished individual whose talents
go far beyond the entertainment world. While many may know
her as one of the stars of the Wonder Years,
her achievements extend to a domain not typically associated with Hollywood, mathematics.
(00:26):
She's not only a scientist, but also a dedicated mathematician
and an award winning author, having written several books aimed
at making math accessible and fun for young readers. Her
work in this field has been instrumental in breaking down
stereotypes and inspiring kids to engage with math in creative ways.
And if that wasn't enough, our next guest also showed
(00:46):
off her very impressive dance skills on season eighteen of
Dancing with the Stars, where she was partnered with none
other than Valschmerkovsky. Please welcome Danica mckeller to the podcast.
How have you been great?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Great? Yeah? I love I mean, I love ballroom dance.
I love being on the show and I love I
just think dance is awesome and I still do it.
I still dance quite often. Actually I take lessons and
my new movie is sent It like Christmas Ball that
comes out in November twenty ninth. I do two Waltz's
and Gleb glob Sepchenko core gaff both of them. And
(01:22):
last year I did a movie that he was in
as an actor and a dancer called Swing Into Romance,
and that movie is on pure Flix now. He was
on Great American Family to start and they still repeat
it sometimes, but now you can find it on pure Flix.
And that was a really fun experience because it actually
it's fun because Gleb was not on my season of
Dancing with the Stars. It was like one of the
(01:43):
few seasons he didn't do. I think he was doing
the show, and I don't know if he was doing
it in Russia or doing it somewhere else, but so
I didn't know him. And Val was supposed to do
the part that he ended up doing, but then he
couldn't Vall couldn't do it because of a neck injury
or something, and so the last minute I'm scrambling and
I'm texting everybody like Sasha Run like the ones who
(02:04):
are available, like audition and stuff, and Gleb was one
of those people and uh, and he did great and
I was coaching him and acting and he was coaching
me and danced and so swinging to romas was really
fun because of that. And the very first day of
shooting was like the big competition at the end, and
so the guys all had the numbers on the backs
and he was like, this feels like it's a real competition.
(02:26):
And it's kind of good because being his first time
on a set, having that first day be really his
comfort zone was perfect and he did a great job. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Yeah, I saw a few articles about it. Actually, you
guys actually look really good together.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Oh. Thanks, It was really fun. I mean I love,
like I said, I'd love dance and I'd love any
opportunity to do it.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
So who is Danica mckeller behind the big screen, behind
the movies, behind the ballroom? Who are who are you
behind closed doors?
Speaker 2 (02:54):
I mean, I'm I homeschool my son Draco, so and
you know I I mean me know that I also
write math books. I've got eleven out.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
By twelve fe eleven.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Yes, they're all at mckellermath dot com. Although I understand
some of the links on the website is not working.
You can also find them on my Amazon or anywhere
that people buy books. But if you go to mkellermath
dot com, you can use a slider button to see
what age you know, depending on the age of your child,
what book I recommend. And I've got books everywhere from
(03:24):
for babies all the way through high school geometry, so
I was a math major at UCLA. I took a
break from acting when I'm in college and did all that.
So so that's part of the other side of me. Yeah,
I homeschool Draco, and I love being a mom and
I love being a wife. I'm divorced and remarried. So
I'm married ten years this month, so you at. And
(03:47):
that's Draco's stepdad. But everyone gets along. We all have
so Draco's dad and stepmom always get together for Thanksgiving,
we all get together for Christmas. It's a really really
good situation that I'm very grateful for.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
That's great. Yeah, I come also from a divorce family,
and my mom made sure we were always together, So
that does that does help. What's your first memory as
a kid do you remember?
Speaker 2 (04:12):
My first memory is a kid, I actually remember learning
to walk. I have two memories of that. One of
them was with my mom and I remember like she
was holding my hands above my head and I was
walking between her legs, and I remember we were in
the master bedroom in San Diego and walking towards their bathroom,
(04:32):
which was like they had a black toilet, and a
black was very fancy, you know, when you're growing up,
you think that's normal, Like I've never seen a black
toilet in a black tub since then. I think it
was kind of like Vegasy. It was funny they used
to live in Vegas. They lived in Vegas before when
they were first married, and then with my dad. I
remember being in my room and my advisure with my
(04:56):
sister and him being like, come on, come on, like
you can do it, and I'm like taking a step
and falling on my diaper, I guess, And I remember
being just like so disappointed myself, and I remember him
laughing like it wasn't a big deal, and it was
like I as a child, I was very stressed out.
I was just a stressed I just took on more
responsibility on the needed to do my entire life. And
I've learned to like let go of that as I've
(05:17):
gone through life, but I remember that and we're thinking, oh,
maybe this isn't the failure that I think it is.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
I love asking people this question. It's so fascinating.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
I've never been asked that before.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Good what So, speaking of your family, what were your
family dynamics like? Because you seem to have a really
good head on your shoulders consistently, I would say, from
the research I've done, and how has I guess your
dynamics and your family shaped your life and who you
are today.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
I think that my family has always had a really
like a good perspective on Hollywood and my fame and
stuff like. It was not a big deal. My parents
divorced when I was seven, and my dad in San Diego.
We moved to Los Angeles, and so we went back
and forth, my sister and I. But it was and
we were for sure sad that our parents are divorced,
(06:07):
but they also got along really well, and so that
was that was that was key. I felt like there
was a lot of mutual respect there and still a love,
you know, on some level, and so that was helpful.
But when but I remember the priority list was super clear,
like health, family, education, and then Hollywood and then my
(06:29):
job that I was doing so I never I never
felt that there were a lot of why haven't. But
I had friends in the business whose parents were so
overly impressed with everything that was going on with their
kids that it puts too much pressure on the kid,
you know, Like I dealt with enough of that when
I when I when the show was over, when The
(06:50):
Wonders was over, and I went to UCLA. It all
happened around the same time and I and for me,
it was like, oh my gosh, who what would my
value be if I didn't have this show? But I
never questioned what my value was to my parents if
I didn't have this show. I questioned what my value
was in the world. So that's it. That's a big difference.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
And then your parents didn't question your value like they didn't.
That wasn't in your identity, not at all.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
And I'm not sure how they pulled that off, but
they just Yeah. My grandmother though, my grandmother, she would
literally introduce me as I love her. I mean, I
loved her so much. She she she lived to be
ninety nine years old. She's like, this is Danica from
the Wonder Years. This is Danica, my granddaughter. It was hilarious.
She was just proud. And she would she would like say, oh, yeah,
(07:38):
I was it. They you know, a store, and and
they were asked me about you know, like how do
they know? Oh it just came up. Oh it just
happened to right, you just bring it up like she Oh,
I know it was. She had pictures of me in
her wallet and she'd take out her wallet to pay
for she'd like make sure to show it. But she
was She's the best. She could do whatever she wanted.
(07:59):
My opinion, I love it.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
But how did I come from a divorce family as well?
My parents divorced when I was two. How do you
feel like that impacted your life?
Speaker 2 (08:09):
I mean, you know, it's actually funny. So Drake and
my son, I mean, we divorced when he we spoke
when he was a year and a half. Divorced by
the time I guess he was two, And I think
that's a much better time because then you don't remember
your parents together. I remember my parents together, and then
so you have something that you miss, like, oh, I
(08:30):
do remember asking my parents At one point i'd heard
about the idea of divorce, was probably like five or six,
and ime we're asking him, I said, oh, no, we'll
never get divorced. I still remember they were standing right
by the washing machine. I I just you know, And
that was actually that actually bothered me more when they
got divorced than the divorced itself. That they told me
that they wouldn't. Later my mom was like, oh, I
(08:52):
never would have said that. Mst have been your father.
And honestly, I don't remember which one of them said that.
You know, I divorced my child's father, and you know,
how do I make this the best experience for him possible?
How did she bye by being generous first of all,
financially generous with his time with Draco. He was generous
(09:15):
with me, so I breastfed Ridaco for the first two
and a half years of his life. And when we split,
Mike could have demanded fifty to fifty time at that point,
and he didn't. He let Draco sleep overnight with me
every every night until I decided that we were done breastfeeding,
which is about two and a half years in an
incredible gift that I will never take for granted. I
(09:37):
was generous with him, like I mean, he could come
over at anytime that he wanted to see Draco, and
they would have time together and they'd go and then
come back whatever. It was generous. Financially, I was the
main breadwinner, and I did my own like calculation and
like figured out figured out what, you know, what was
reasonable and checked with him and like we went to
(09:58):
a therapist. We did divorce therapy. Let's figure out the
custy schedules, figure out the financials with our therapist. And
she was a therapist who was our marriage therapist when
we realized we needed help except whatever. So so doing
it like that meant that it was just a spirit
(10:19):
of collaboration and not trying to take stuff from each
other and not trying to be stingy, but be generous.
It feels so much better when you're not at war.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
It's just emotions that take over the reaction versus the response,
you know.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Right, so you have to have lots of conversations with yourself. Yeah,
I want this to go.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
That's very mature of you guys. Were Definitely that's the
definition of adulting.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Right, Yes, adulting, which is good. We should all be adulting.
If you're an adult to be adulting, yeah, they can, Yeah,
the responsible things to do. So yeah, and I'm and
to this day. We help each other and we're were
with whatever, and and it's good and Draco loves it.
Draco loves sing let's get along. And it's so much
(11:07):
healthier for him and healthier for us.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Yeah. And it's not always been easy. There been rough
patches here and there, but but yeah, you just keep
you keep striving or that that ideal.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Yeah, you became America's sweetheart. Was that a lot of
pressure when you started the wonder years? Well, you were.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
I did not realize at all. So I was going
to school and I was going to work, and I
was going to school and going to work, and I
go went I didn't go to Hollywood parties. I didn't
do any of that stuff. I had no idea if
I went, if I was at some event, if if
there were drugs going on, I had no idea. I
was not. I just wasn't a part of any of that.
I was. I was very much to go to two
(11:59):
shoes and wanted to do the right thing, get good grades,
and you know it was fun. The last season, somebody
said that to me on set and I was like,
what what are you talking about? Like, what does that
even mean? Well, here's the thing, like I love the
fact that being in that position has allowed me to
write these math books and parents trust me with their kids' education,
(12:23):
and then I get to do like the movies that
I'm doing, these Christmas movies. I did one for Lifetime
in twenty thirteen, and I did seven for Homemark Channel,
and now I'm doing them for Great American Family Channel.
Just did my third one that I told you about
Cindy about like Christmas Fall with the waltzes in it,
an excuse to dance and all these wondable things I
get to do. You know, it's a lot of it's
(12:43):
been flavored by that base of being America's sweetheart of
making people feel warm and fuzzy. Because these Christmas movies,
it's all about feeling warm and fuzzy, and so we
get to add the childhood nostalgia onto that. It just helps.
It just amplifies what we're trying to do with movies.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
You're right, though, because why would you have pressure if
you're actually never partied, You never like got caught up
in that crowd. Like so people want a label. It's
just a label, right, Like, at the end of the day,
you are who you are at your true essence is
who you are, you know, and you just didn't get
caught up in that type of I guess environment.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Any thing. I felt pressure to do stuff a little bit,
like to do rebellious things or whatever. I mean I was.
I was in a sorority and the people to offer
me like pop Brannis and I was like, it's okay.
I I didn't. I just didn't. I felt pressure like
I would go to fraternity parties and get a can
of beer and dump it out and fill it with water,
(13:42):
so I didn't have pressure of people like how can
you not drink it? You know? So that's the kind
of stuff that I would do too.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
So you don't, you don't drink at all? Like not,
you just don't like it, or.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
I just don't feel good. I mean, like I'm not.
I'm not what they call sober, Like I don't like
I'll maybe once a month if I'm out of my husband,
like part of a drink. Like we went to Iceland
for our ten year wedding anniversary, which is incredible, and
one night we had dinner, and one of those nights
I ordered a drink. It was this really cool local
thing it had I don't even know it. I think
(14:15):
it was whiskey, but it also had like egg in it.
It was like like egg white froth. It's really good. Mm.
But it's but I don't think I've finished it.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
But you're you know, you're not an addict, like I'm
sober for six years because I did have a problem
with alcohol.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
So right, I did never have a problem with alcohol.
I just said, I'm a health nuts like I don't
want to do things that are going to backslade me
in terms of my health goals.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
I hear you. I really believe that all of this,
Uh andre for.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
You, by the way, congratulations, because I've done lots of
people and that's not easy.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
It's not it's daily. It's a daily thing, one step,
one day at a time.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Really well, let me tell you something. So when I
was in college, when I was at UCLA, one of
my fellow math majors, super cute, I like whatever. We
started dating and he was he had a problem with
drug drugs and alcohol, and he was when I met him,
he was sober. He was an AA and he recommended
that I go to alan On and I was like,
(15:12):
I mean why, but okay, So I did, and then
sure enough he fell off the wagon while we were dating,
and it was really hard, and that that's why I
started going to them like a few times a week,
and I learned all these amazing life lessons and strategies
for dealing with just life beyond like having like even
(15:34):
if so and I ended up like a year later,
we ended up breaking up, but I still would go
to alan On meetings. I mean I every now and then,
Like I mean, I haven't been since we moved to
Tennessee a couple of years ago, but I still have
the same let go and let God and then like
like the the idea that holding on and this helped
(15:54):
me to my divorce. The idea of holding on to
resentment and anger is like drinking poison and expecting the
other person to so to your point of like I
did that for Draco, I also did it for me
because if I'm looking at this person in my life
is my enemy that I'm dealing with all the time
because he's my child's father that puts poison in me
every day. And so yeah, so that was so alan
(16:17):
On helped me so much, so much and continues to
those philosophies and then in reasons yeah, yeah, and recently.
I told this story a lot if you've heard it.
But the last uh two years now I have developed
my faith like I now really like I am in
it and I have my faith journey and I love it.
(16:38):
I've been reading the Bible. I'm midway through reading for
the second time through I do this thing where I
read for the Bible in a year. It's this. There's
an app called the Bible Recap and it's great, and
so I'm going to be done with the Bible for
the second time all the way through at the end
of this year. It's really I've been I love I'm
very like goal oriented, so it's kind of very satisfying.
So but it's been amazing. And alan in some ways
(17:00):
prepped me for that, because I didn't have this idea
of God before that. I'm kind of my mom was
very spiritual, but it was more like there are spirits
around us. It wasn't like there's a God. And I'd
actually gone to Catholic school for a couple of years,
but I was getting different messages at home and so
it never really stuck, which is fine, I mean, but
(17:22):
it was so interesting that that alan On is what
ushered in my comfort with even the word God. Uh.
That then would percolate and.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Yeah, it's a big it's a big part of sobriety
that you know, you have to believe in something bigger
than yourself. And yeah, and that first was higher power,
to call it high power.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Yeah, And at first it was I was more comfortable
with the idea of how higher power. And then it
was the serenity prayer where I started saying God to myself, God,
grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things that I can, and
the wisdoms to know the difference. And I think every
meeting started and ended with that, and I still think
that to myself all time. That and the Lord's prayer,
those are the two things that I will just retreat to. Yeah,
(18:06):
feeling stressed.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
I truly believe, like my therapist still like, everything is
based off of those steps. I believe in general. But
the whole point are the lessons, right, the lessons that
are and the steps in order to you know, be
able to hand your life over to God. And it
is very true. And I think that first of all,
(18:29):
you've done such a like a interesting journey as far
as your faith goes, because not a lot. I don't
hear a lot of people finding faith, I would say,
especially in the entertainment industry. Who influenced you?
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Well, uh, Starting to start with my dad, he found
the Lord like twenty years ago or something like that,
and I was already an adult at that point, and
I remember him talking to me about it and being like, huh,
that's so, I'm happy for you because he seemed so
happy and peaceful. I was like, that's great, and I'd
(19:06):
go to church with him and stuff, but it wasn't
you know. And then my friend Kenneth Cameronberray, who was
on Great American Family with me, she she was she
was posting something on her Instagram a couple of years
three years ago now about forgiveness, and I was like,
and I text her, I'm like, okay, look, I just
don't understand this thing about like, okay, so you can
do whatever you want and then Jesus forgives her sins
(19:27):
and then you can just do it again. Like I
was like, I just don't I don't understand. She's like,
can I send you a Bible?
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Sure?
Speaker 2 (19:34):
So she sent me Bible.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Here.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
It's this one's golden right here. And I didn't even
open it at first. I just took a picture, like, oh,
how cool, and I posted it for her to promote
her Bible and then she invited me to go to
church with her. This was the end of twenty twenty one,
and it was just COVID was happening and it was
just hard. Things were getting shut down whenever there was
my outbreak. We were in Los Angeles at the time,
(19:59):
and then and then it worked out the week before Easter,
so it was Palm Sunday in twenty twenty two and
I it was a passion play. They did a passion
play and I saw I just got it. I don't
know everything, everything hit me all at once. I was
just bawling the whole time, and I felt it. I
(20:19):
just felt like I felt the Holy Spirit come to me.
That's what my dad says.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
It was.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
All I know is I'm I'm in now. And I
first head first, super happy. I went homeful and I
went on Instagram live and I just said everything that
I was thinking. I was like, you know, one of
the main things that this, one of the main revelations
that I had at that moment was that I had
always thought of religion as restrictive, like there's all these rules,
(20:47):
and yeah, maybe religions like that, but it's not about religion.
It's about relationship with God.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
It's your own personal journal, own.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Personal relationship, and there's so much freedom in that, especially
because everything is on your shoulders. Correct And I I'd
heard those messages in alan on but then I feel
like we get things in layers throughout our life, and
it just hit me all at once, like a huge,
big layer hit me.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
Would you say that was when you let go of
like not micromanaging, but like control trying to control outcomes
and like trying to.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
It's so funny because I knew all that stuff. It
was a huge, huge, like trust fall. I feel like
I've been in a huge and a big trust fall
ever since then.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Really, yeah, that's beautiful. I love that. And Candace for
my listeners, she also did Dancing with the Stars with
I love it. Okay, so let's just get into the show. Ben,
since we're we mentioned the title Dancing with the Stars.
I saw all of your dances and shout out to
dailymotion dot Com because I didn't just see your dances,
(21:55):
I saw your packages. I saw all the judges comments,
the scores.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Oh you're talking when I was on Dancing Stars.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Yeah, yeah, so you were a fan of the show.
Did your team reach out to the executives or did
they just call you and ask you to do it.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
I feel like we had reached out to them at
some point a few years prior to let them know
that I was interested. And then uh, and then Avril
Levigne did a music video and I was invited to
be in it, and and it was this very like
sort of risque. I mean, I was wearing this very
sexy outfit and it was this apocalyptic storyline and so
(22:38):
where everyone and I were like, I don't know, we
were all this heavy makeup and super sexy outfits. It
was like the end of the world. Very silly plot line,
but near Like in the middle of the music video,
the music stops and there's this scene between me and
her and this dog in the car where he was driving,
and we were like in an argument, like you should
(22:59):
I told her not to let him drive, you know,
so the dog. It was really silly. You can look
it up. It's the song was rock and Roll appera
Lvian's rock and Roll. And then at the end of it.
In the script it said that she and I almost kiss,
but before it kisses, it would cut away. Well we're
shooting it, and the director never said cuts. We just
(23:21):
like Presstyer lift against each other and it's like and
then what they did with that is they added this narration.
It was hilarious because it on the kiss, it did
a freeze frame and then it said that was our
first and only kiss together. But I often think back
on that day with wonder and I think when he
does too, and then the song starts again. So it's
(23:42):
really funny. Anyway, that happened, and suddenly Dance from the
Stars called and they said, hey, Valerie Harbor might have
to drop out, would Danny could be able to jump in?
And I was like yeah, But then she didn't drop out,
and then so then the next season they called for
me to do it. That's how it happened.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
Got it So you were like a and wanting like
telling your team to contact them like you were just
they knew I.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
Was interested, okay, and when and when they when they
but they called, but they called the Avril Lavine video dropped.
It was like a couple days later and.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
Out of every other accomplishment. It's that freaking music video
music video. I have to see it now. I definitely knew.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
It's a pretty funny video. It's like a five minute video.
It's but it's entertaining. Billy Zane was in it too.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Oh really, No, I have to see it now. Yea
and she Avril Levine. I think she performed during when
we had results shows back in the day. Did we
have result shows when you were on?
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (24:38):
Okay, I no, wait Mondays and Tuesdays. It'd be Mondays
and Tuesdays.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
It was only once a week.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
It was only you. Your dancing was incredible and I'm
harsh critic, like I have to say, I don't just
say that to people. You getting three eighths for example,
or however many judges there were for week one when
you did the fuck trot was it was well deserved
And I know people at that time may have asked
(25:08):
a lot if you had any dance experience? Did you?
Speaker 2 (25:11):
Or do you a little? Yes? Yeah, not as much
as Meryl davis Well, who was the gold medal winning
Olympic ice dancers that's basically a barm dancing on ice.
She is Charlie so I didn't have less experience with her, right,
(25:32):
A little experience I in, I guess eight years before that,
in two thousand and six, I had done a TV
movie for Lifetime that had a tango in it, and
so I learned, Uh, it was like international style of tango.
So I did that and in before that, in nineteen
ninety nine, when I right after college, I did I
played Rizzo and Greece in a Los Angeles area theater
(25:55):
and so it was like swing dancing stuff got and
I taken some lessons here and there after that because
I really liked it. Actually, yeah, no, So after the
TV movie in two thousand and six, I made good
friends in Dallas with would go to Chared Cliff. Do
you know these people? And Sharona got you Chilas. They
were like they're Blackpool and like ninety eight.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
I should know them a Latin professional Latin yes, last yeah,
maybe if I see their face. That was like my time.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
Like judges they do judging all over the country in
af Florida and Ohio and doing all those there's still
so they actually gave me lessons. They gave me like
rumba and trashaw lessons. I remember remember telling valves like.
I was like, I've had some lessons like that. He's like,
trust me. In this season especially, there's people with a
(26:45):
lot more dance experience than you. It's not going to
take too.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Like if you had one to two lessons or even
fifteen lessons, you still you know ballroom. It's like it
takes decades to master anything. Yes, that's why I don't
belie leave. Like even with Meryl, I believe it's a
lot harder when I've had someone with dance experience. It's
a lot harder if you haven't trained specifically in the
genre of ballroom, Like for example, with Meryl and Charlie,
(27:12):
they it was hard. I worked with them a lot.
When I did my live stage show in Japan, I
had them perform with us, and it was really hard
for them to all of a sudden have hip action
when you can't have hip action on ice for example,
Oh yeah, right, like can't isolate. And when I went
to Argentina to learn how to like authentically Argentine tango,
when the show outed that dance, it was so hard
(27:34):
for me to untrain, Like they don't want you to
break your wrists, they don't want any headsnaps. They don't
want anything manufactured, so they want everything pedestrian. So whenever
I would like just think that, oh the music's saying it,
so I'm just gonna do it myself, I would literally
get slept on the hand because I'm not you know,
so I don't. I think we all have our own
challenges as far as like meaning the celebrities, like, if
(27:56):
you do have dance experience, it's I think it's harder
to untrain the than it is to train it.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
So I think that and I but I think the
biggest advantage is are the athletes, and they had so
they had both things going for them. They were Olympians.
That kind of intense training I had never had before ever,
nothing even close to that. Physical demands and that the
mental mentality that yeah, like you're feeling completely unprepared. Now
(28:23):
you're going to go dance in front of twenty million people.
Go like and then now you're wearing a dress and
everything feels different. I mean that the first time I
was like, wait, it doesn't feel the same. It's like
there's no time for any of that. I used to
have these meltdowns and my husband, who was my fiance
at the time, he'd be like, you've got this, come on,
you got I'm like, I don't remember anything I do,
I'm doing it and freaking out.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
Week two, Yes, was really intense. Now I think my
listeners would love to know why is the show so intense?
Speaker 2 (28:55):
Well, I mean, you know this, it's much harder than
they show and packages because they it would bum people
out to see how stressful it is. It just wouldn't
be as fun anymore for people.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
You're so right, actually right, And.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
And I that Umember week too because for me, suddenly
we had half the time to learn a dance, which
felt like even less than half the time, and samba
is challenging, very different from foxtrot. I had not I mean,
I didn't know what I was doing, and I still
vou like charging me with tighten your stomach, and he
(29:30):
was like he was like charging at me, Like I thought,
is he gonna hit me? Obviously he wasn't gonna hit me.
But I will never forget and it's like sweat was
like flung off his face and I still would never
forget that moment, and it's very sobering, like oh okay, yes,
I would keep my cord tight I'm like, I wasn't
doing that before anyway, it was that week he was
he was hard on me, but he gave me this
(29:51):
really difficult choreography and he told me later like, yeah,
that was like a pro it was pro choreography that
I gave you. I'm like, and I just like when
I was one years old finding to walk their feeling
failure was not right. So I put an enormousmount of
pressure on myself to try to fulfill it, and it
broke me. I was in tears and and I was
(30:11):
I was. I was in tears because I was not
I didn't know how to handle that kind of pressure.
But it made me stronger. I mean, I'm grateful to
vow because I I like challenges. I like being pushed
beyond what I my comfort zone. I mean, I so
I welcome that kind of thing. I'm just working really
hard trying to do my best and felt completely unqualified
(30:35):
and interesting. So that was just I was always I
felt unqualified. What do you mean because I didn't know?
Speaker 1 (30:41):
Because I that's the point.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
Sure, But it's like I loved, I loved I've always
loved dance. But it's like i'mber telling somebody it was
like if you love chocolate, right, and somebody puts you
on a vat of chocolate and then holds your head
under it. That's what dancing the Star is like. And
then right now, then you get a breath. That's a
(31:04):
perfect yeah, because it's it's unrelenting. That's like how I
how I described motherhood, which, by the way, I love.
It's a different one, but it's similar. So it's like
if you if somebody says, okay, I'm gonna throw you
a ball, Okay, great, You're like on the football field.
So he throws the ball and then you run and
you just keep running. You never stop. That's what it
(31:26):
feels like when your child is young. Great things. You
just have to learn how to manage yourself so that
you can enjoy it, because both things are a big responsibility. No,
actually they honestly very being a mom has gotten easier
and easier.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
Did you request Val as your partner? Did they ask you?
They didn't ask who you'd want to dance with.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
No, But Dina Katz had texted me and she said,
what's your height? And I said, Derek hough Hide. But
anyway that I got Vale, it's fine. That's fine, I
didn't proquessing.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
What were your first impressions when you walked through that
door and saw Val that he.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
Was like this cool guy, you know, like I got
mister cool.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
Did you watch the show from season one or not.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
From season one? Although I did see your uh your
iconic like was it riding paper horse right cowboy? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (32:31):
Yeah? Yeah that was season two.
Speaker 2 (32:33):
Isn't okay? So then I probably watched from season two on.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
Okay, got it?
Speaker 2 (32:37):
Two thousand and five? What what year did this show?
Speaker 1 (32:39):
Two thousand? Well, the show was first season was two
thousand and six. I started two thousand no, no, sorry,
two thousand and five, and then I started two thousand
and six.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
Okay, so two thousand and six when I start watching.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
It, during switch up week, you danced with the other Schmerkowski. Yes,
what was that?
Speaker 2 (32:54):
Like he's been like the whole time talking about how
Marilyn he would practice and have a whole down on
Tuesday and they just have coffee the whole time, Like, well, that's.
Speaker 1 (33:04):
Why would anyone say this.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
I don't know if he's trying me feel bad. I
don't know what it was, but I mean, yeah, that
was that was interesting, And then it was then Julianne
called him out, saying that he phoned in the choreography
with me. It was a little it was a little
light on content. I think he thought I couldn't handle more,
and so he was like dumbing it down for me.
(33:27):
That's what I think happened. It's fine, whatever, It's all good, honestly.
So Week three it was the first week that I
had intense pain with the rib that would eventually break.
So it's actually kind of good because and I was
wearing a brace That's why I had that one piece on,
so I had a brace on underneath for my ribs.
So it was probably good for me to have like
a light week off in a way, and and then
(33:50):
then I could come back stronger Week five and then
week six is when it broke. But like I needed that.
I probably if I had had a really intense number,
I probably would broken it that week.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
It was dive is jive? Yeah got it? Yeah, but
still kind of like like I remember switch that week
I danced with Alfonso and I was I think I
was dancing with Antonio Sabado Junior that season, and I
was like hell, yeah, I was so excited, and I
think it's healthy actually to take a break. They don't
do it anymore because from what I've heard, I don't
(34:21):
know if this is true, but what I've heard is
that a lot of the dancers would get except for me,
I guess, would get super emotional about it because like
if your celebrity does better with another person, it's kind
of like adds that pressure. But I think it's healthy
because it's like a marriage. It's an arranged marriage, this
whole thing, right, right, Like you're stuck with this person
seven days a week, either like each other you don't,
(34:44):
and it's a healthy break to kind of like okay,
and then you either miss them or you don't.
Speaker 2 (34:48):
Yeah, right, Yeah, it's true.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
What is the biggest difference between Max and Bell's teaching style?
Speaker 2 (34:56):
Max wasn't interested in teaching me. I mean, both of
them one him to win that season because he had
never won before, and with Meryl Davis as a partner
that was SiGe, so like a vout from day one,
he was like, I want my brother to win this,
and that's fine. I'm Meryl's gonna win any Merril or
Tarler's gonna win anyway, so that works out just fine.
I was really touched by the fact that Val wanted
(35:17):
Max to win, and I always thought that was really
cool of him, and so that kind of made me
feel like, Okay, well, I love the love between the
brothers and I wanted to support that and if we
if and I needed the week off. Honestly, I really did.
My My rip hurts so much I could barely Like
I remember it was after the week three contemporary dance
was done. It like suddenly I felt it and I
went to the doctor and they said, well, nothing's broken yet,
(35:37):
but we can tell there's some bruising and wear brace,
you know, And so I was already they're ready to
and I remember maxying like I just want to bubble
wrap you and like deliver you safely back to Val.
So there's a lot of stuff going on. But I
but I so there wasn't there. There just wasn't the
same drive, you know, like we're gonna make this the
(35:58):
best dance ever. That wasn't it. And there was no
comp petition between the two brothers.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
Right, that's nice. Actually, did did you raise the awareness
about your rib hurting to production when it started irritating you?
Speaker 2 (36:11):
Or I'm sure they knew when they had cameras on
us the whole time.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
Okay, so you did talk to them about it, They
just didn't make it a package until it was fractured.
Speaker 2 (36:20):
I guess right. Yeah, we were trying to do a
three sixty when in one, which we should have done like,
but I was just trying so hard to make it
work and I was determined and it hurt, but I
was like, you know what, I'm gonna be like a
tough dancer because that's what you do as a dancer.
So that that was what it ultimately caused the rib
to break.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
Did you guys get along for the most part or oh?
Speaker 2 (36:41):
Yeah, for sure, for sure. And I really appreciated him
being tough pont of me. I knew that I was
getting better. I could feel it, and it was exciting.
He wanted to push me, and if I'm not getting
pushed by a Max for whatever reasons, I appreciate even
more when Vowel was pushing me to really do well.
He didn't give me easy correct ever. It was, it was,
(37:02):
It was complex, it was and I remember well when
I was doing the chat shop, just doing the uh
like the camera blocking, I guess for the chat chop
the day before performed and Max wokbin He goes, what
are you like getting ready for competition or something like,
because it was just whatever the choreography was, it wasn't
as showy as it was using I don't know values
(37:25):
to say that. He said, I can tell what you
can do. When you don't do it, it makes me
angry because you can't do it.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
I heard him say during one of your rehearsals, he goes,
I don't want you to try to do it, I
want you to do it.
Speaker 2 (37:38):
I was like, well, this is this really was trying
my best all the time.
Speaker 1 (37:46):
You don't do this show and not trying your best
unless your master p God bless him. Do you were
you shocked by your elimination?
Speaker 2 (37:59):
Yes? And know I the week so and during that
season you were voted off based on the week before.
So that meant that you could vote the entire show.
It wasn't like now we're voting closes fifteen minutes before
because they're using that night's votes. In that season, it
was the prior Monday. Those scores are what effect or
(38:21):
what determined who gets voted off that so you can
have like the best nine of your life, but you
could get voted off because of the night prior, the
week prior anyway, So week seven, So I broke my
rib between week six and week seven, so I performed,
So I danced week seven, and that my whole package
on week seven was about my broken rib. And for me,
when I see somebody's injured, I don't vote for them.
(38:42):
I'm like, they need to go home and the rest.
There was a little snafoo in the middle of the
salsa number on week seven where my valvelattest finger caught
in my glove. I was wearing these web gloves and
so we had to spin me with a different hand,
and it felt different and I got a little lost.
And it wasn't right away. It was like a couple
of steps later that suddenly didn't feel familiar as like,
(39:03):
and it was awful. But I look at it and
it just looks a little sloppy. It doesn't look like
I had no idea where I was for like ten seconds,
twenty seconds, and I'm a later he said, look, I
know it felt like World War three out there, but honestly,
with the camera angles, you couldn't really tell. And that
was when I that's when I realized that they already
judges already have their comments figured out because they didn't
(39:23):
call me out on that. Instead they called me out
on the fact that it was souls and I wasn't
moving my ribs as much as I could. And I
actually think I did do a fine with my rids
hooping because I don't know, I had like they gave
me like a shot of something I had to feel anything.
So I was really proud of that anyway, So.
Speaker 1 (39:40):
Okay, quickly, because I know you have to go rapid fire.
Who falls in love first, the celebrity or the pro dancer.
Speaker 2 (39:46):
Falls in love with the other one?
Speaker 1 (39:49):
Yeah, like not saying you guys did, but like you know,
because it does happen, right, people fall in love.
Speaker 2 (39:55):
Right probably the probably the celebrity will fall in love
with the pro because they're like, well, if it's the woman,
is the celebrity because like you feel taken care of
the most, and the other way too, because the women
are really sexy. You guys are amazingly sexy, and so
I can see the guy's falling. So yeah, the celebrity
would have fallen in love.
Speaker 1 (40:16):
Do you think the show is rigged?
Speaker 2 (40:19):
I think it's a reality show, not a dance competition.
Speaker 1 (40:22):
Show smart answer is the voting system fair?
Speaker 2 (40:27):
Who knows?
Speaker 1 (40:29):
Who? Do you ever feel like throwing in the.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
Towel as much as I can? Which is only vaguely
feeling that way, but knowing I never would.
Speaker 1 (40:39):
Fan questions quickly at Sasap Underscore posh If Dancing on
the Stars would do an all star season again? Would
you want? Who would you want as your pro partner?
Who is currently dancing on the show Gloves Shinko? Oh,
I love that.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
I've danced with him now in a movie A good teacher.
Speaker 1 (40:58):
Do you like his teaching style?
Speaker 2 (40:59):
Great teachure. Now we don't have the pressure of dancing
with the stars. It was a movie, you know, it's different.
But he's a fantastic teacher. We dance really well together.
It's just easy to dance with that. I'm not sure why.
I think just some.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
People just pere up well interesting.
Speaker 2 (41:14):
If I had an opportunity to dance with them on stage,
I would, I mean, I love that?
Speaker 1 (41:18):
At Sassy Ginger fifty five, why did you leave Hallmark.
Speaker 2 (41:22):
So great? American Family Channel was started by the man
who ran Hallmark Channel for twenty years. Bill Abbott is
his name. I credit him with reviving my career, giving
me this genre. I did like fifteen movies with him
in a Hallmark channel. So when he left to start
his own network and he asked me to come along,
I was like, yeah, and also a Hallmark. I never
had an overall deal, and with Great America and I
had these multi picture deals. They let me be way
(41:44):
more involved in the writing and the producing. It is
so creatively fulfilling with the fact that I'm doing that.
I've done two dance movies because I wanted to do
dance movies, Like I'm just went way more involved. And
it is a smaller network, but I know it has
fewer viewers at this point, but I know it's growing
and it's and they have given me opportunities to weave
my faith into some of the stories. The really great situation.
(42:08):
I'm so grateful for it, and I'm very grateful to
Bill as well.
Speaker 1 (42:11):
I love I also heard you say in one of
your interviews that You've always wanted to portray a dancer
in one of your movies, So I'm happy you or
you were able to do that.
Speaker 2 (42:19):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (42:20):
Last question, current projects that you're working on, anything you
want to promote.
Speaker 2 (42:25):
Well, So, I just shot a movie for Great America
that comes out in the spring, and I can't talk
about it yet, but I think it's word within weeks
of being able to announce it. That was a really,
really great experience with somebody who's also been on Dancing
with the Stars. I wish I could talk to you
about it, but I can't. Maybe we can do a
follow up in a few weeks. Okay, So, and then
(42:46):
my movie that comes out at the end of this month,
a Cinderella Christmas Ball, so that I play a dance
teacher who from Chicago, who was adopted as a young
girl because her mom died when she was very young,
and never knew my father. My father's name isn't even
on the Firth certificate. My foster parents have just recently passed,
and I'm going through a box of their things and
I find a picture of my birth mom that I've
(43:07):
never seen before, from the year before I was born,
and she's in a wedding dress and she's holding hands
with a man who's taking the picture. She's like and
so this is the first evidence I've ever had of
my dad. The back of the picture says haven Shire.
You know nineteen eighty seven or whatever. I'm like, wait
a minute, that was like December. I'm like, that was
nine months before I was born. Is this is this
(43:27):
my father? And so I go on this adventure to
have inshire. While I'm there, it's harder to figure it
out than I thought, and I ended up becoming the
dance I need to get a job. I've become a
dance teacher to the prince who has to learn a
waltz for their big Christmas gala that they unofficially called
the Cinderella Christmas Ball because this is one of those
years where the prince has to choose his bride, and
(43:49):
like in Cinderella, he dances with ladies and then announces
his bride by doing it very special waltz. And so
I'm teaching him this very special waltz anyway, so you
can guess where it goes. But me, with my search
for my family, I'm helping him learn this dance that
he doesn't really want to learn because he hasn't chosen
a bride, and usually it's just a formality he goes
yeah for generations, like the prince knows who's going to
(44:11):
propose to It's just this old tradition, but this year
he doesn't know, and so that's you can probably.
Speaker 1 (44:18):
I love I just got like sucked into your explanation.
So it's really it's about hypnotized by you.
Speaker 2 (44:23):
Yeah. So Friday November twenty ninth, the night after Thanksgiving,
so which for some people is the first acceptable day
to start celebrating Christmas. It'll be on Great American Family Channel.
And if people follow me on social media, which is
just at Danik and mckeller, they'll be get almost updates
and reminders.
Speaker 1 (44:38):
Thank you so much, Danica, Thank you so much. Fun,
so fun. Good to catch up you too. Bye bye,
and that's a wrap. As always, don't forget to Please
take a moment to rate and review this episode as
well as click on that follow button so that you'll
get notified whenever we drop a new episode, and do
so wherever you're currently listening to this podcast. Even if
(44:58):
you've already rated reviewed this podcast, make sure to make
up another title or name and do it again, even
if you've done so a million times already, as it's
absolutely key to the podcast success. Your feedback and support
is invaluable. And just so you know, I read every
single review, so Thank you guys so much and I
look forward to reading more of them as they come.
Make sure to drop in on Wednesday as I recap
(45:19):
the latest episode of Dancing with the Stars, and don't
forget to come back again on Friday for headlines. Until
next time, Love you guys. Bye,
This is Sex, Lies and spray Tands with Me Cheryl
Burke and iHeartRadio Podcast. Welcome back to your favorite dancing podcast.
Our next guest is a highly accomplished individual whose talents
go far beyond the entertainment world. While many may know
her as one of the stars of the Wonder Years,
her achievements extend to a domain not typically associated with Hollywood, mathematics.
(00:26):
She's not only a scientist, but also a dedicated mathematician
and an award winning author, having written several books aimed
at making math accessible and fun for young readers. Her
work in this field has been instrumental in breaking down
stereotypes and inspiring kids to engage with math in creative ways.
And if that wasn't enough, our next guest also showed
(00:46):
off her very impressive dance skills on season eighteen of
Dancing with the Stars, where she was partnered with none
other than Valschmerkovsky. Please welcome Danica mckeller to the podcast.
How have you been great?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Great? Yeah? I love I mean, I love ballroom dance.
I love being on the show and I love I
just think dance is awesome and I still do it.
I still dance quite often. Actually I take lessons and
my new movie is sent It like Christmas Ball that
comes out in November twenty ninth. I do two Waltz's
and Gleb glob Sepchenko core gaff both of them. And
(01:22):
last year I did a movie that he was in
as an actor and a dancer called Swing Into Romance,
and that movie is on pure Flix now. He was
on Great American Family to start and they still repeat
it sometimes, but now you can find it on pure Flix.
And that was a really fun experience because it actually
it's fun because Gleb was not on my season of
Dancing with the Stars. It was like one of the
(01:43):
few seasons he didn't do. I think he was doing
the show, and I don't know if he was doing
it in Russia or doing it somewhere else, but so
I didn't know him. And Val was supposed to do
the part that he ended up doing, but then he
couldn't Vall couldn't do it because of a neck injury
or something, and so the last minute I'm scrambling and
I'm texting everybody like Sasha Run like the ones who
(02:04):
are available, like audition and stuff, and Gleb was one
of those people and uh, and he did great and
I was coaching him and acting and he was coaching
me and danced and so swinging to romas was really
fun because of that. And the very first day of
shooting was like the big competition at the end, and
so the guys all had the numbers on the backs
and he was like, this feels like it's a real competition.
(02:26):
And it's kind of good because being his first time
on a set, having that first day be really his
comfort zone was perfect and he did a great job. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Yeah, I saw a few articles about it. Actually, you
guys actually look really good together.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Oh. Thanks, It was really fun. I mean I love,
like I said, I'd love dance and I'd love any
opportunity to do it.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
So who is Danica mckeller behind the big screen, behind
the movies, behind the ballroom? Who are who are you
behind closed doors?
Speaker 2 (02:54):
I mean, I'm I homeschool my son Draco, so and
you know I I mean me know that I also
write math books. I've got eleven out.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
By twelve fe eleven.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Yes, they're all at mckellermath dot com. Although I understand
some of the links on the website is not working.
You can also find them on my Amazon or anywhere
that people buy books. But if you go to mkellermath
dot com, you can use a slider button to see
what age you know, depending on the age of your child,
what book I recommend. And I've got books everywhere from
(03:24):
for babies all the way through high school geometry, so
I was a math major at UCLA. I took a
break from acting when I'm in college and did all that.
So so that's part of the other side of me. Yeah,
I homeschool Draco, and I love being a mom and
I love being a wife. I'm divorced and remarried. So
I'm married ten years this month, so you at. And
(03:47):
that's Draco's stepdad. But everyone gets along. We all have
so Draco's dad and stepmom always get together for Thanksgiving,
we all get together for Christmas. It's a really really
good situation that I'm very grateful for.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
That's great. Yeah, I come also from a divorce family,
and my mom made sure we were always together, So
that does that does help. What's your first memory as
a kid do you remember?
Speaker 2 (04:12):
My first memory is a kid, I actually remember learning
to walk. I have two memories of that. One of
them was with my mom and I remember like she
was holding my hands above my head and I was
walking between her legs, and I remember we were in
the master bedroom in San Diego and walking towards their bathroom,
(04:32):
which was like they had a black toilet, and a
black was very fancy, you know, when you're growing up,
you think that's normal, Like I've never seen a black
toilet in a black tub since then. I think it
was kind of like Vegasy. It was funny they used
to live in Vegas. They lived in Vegas before when
they were first married, and then with my dad. I
remember being in my room and my advisure with my
(04:56):
sister and him being like, come on, come on, like
you can do it, and I'm like taking a step
and falling on my diaper, I guess, And I remember
being just like so disappointed myself, and I remember him
laughing like it wasn't a big deal, and it was
like I as a child, I was very stressed out.
I was just a stressed I just took on more
responsibility on the needed to do my entire life. And
I've learned to like let go of that as I've
(05:17):
gone through life, but I remember that and we're thinking, oh,
maybe this isn't the failure that I think it is.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
I love asking people this question. It's so fascinating.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
I've never been asked that before.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Good what So, speaking of your family, what were your
family dynamics like? Because you seem to have a really
good head on your shoulders consistently, I would say, from
the research I've done, and how has I guess your
dynamics and your family shaped your life and who you
are today.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
I think that my family has always had a really
like a good perspective on Hollywood and my fame and
stuff like. It was not a big deal. My parents
divorced when I was seven, and my dad in San Diego.
We moved to Los Angeles, and so we went back
and forth, my sister and I. But it was and
we were for sure sad that our parents are divorced,
(06:07):
but they also got along really well, and so that
was that was that was key. I felt like there
was a lot of mutual respect there and still a love,
you know, on some level, and so that was helpful.
But when but I remember the priority list was super clear,
like health, family, education, and then Hollywood and then my
(06:29):
job that I was doing so I never I never
felt that there were a lot of why haven't. But
I had friends in the business whose parents were so
overly impressed with everything that was going on with their
kids that it puts too much pressure on the kid,
you know, Like I dealt with enough of that when
I when I when the show was over, when The
(06:50):
Wonders was over, and I went to UCLA. It all
happened around the same time and I and for me,
it was like, oh my gosh, who what would my
value be if I didn't have this show? But I
never questioned what my value was to my parents if
I didn't have this show. I questioned what my value
was in the world. So that's it. That's a big difference.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
And then your parents didn't question your value like they didn't.
That wasn't in your identity, not at all.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
And I'm not sure how they pulled that off, but
they just Yeah. My grandmother though, my grandmother, she would
literally introduce me as I love her. I mean, I
loved her so much. She she she lived to be
ninety nine years old. She's like, this is Danica from
the Wonder Years. This is Danica, my granddaughter. It was hilarious.
She was just proud. And she would she would like say, oh, yeah,
(07:38):
I was it. They you know, a store, and and
they were asked me about you know, like how do
they know? Oh it just came up. Oh it just
happened to right, you just bring it up like she Oh,
I know it was. She had pictures of me in
her wallet and she'd take out her wallet to pay
for she'd like make sure to show it. But she
was She's the best. She could do whatever she wanted.
(07:59):
My opinion, I love it.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
But how did I come from a divorce family as well?
My parents divorced when I was two. How do you
feel like that impacted your life?
Speaker 2 (08:09):
I mean, you know, it's actually funny. So Drake and
my son, I mean, we divorced when he we spoke
when he was a year and a half. Divorced by
the time I guess he was two, And I think
that's a much better time because then you don't remember
your parents together. I remember my parents together, and then
so you have something that you miss, like, oh, I
(08:30):
do remember asking my parents At one point i'd heard
about the idea of divorce, was probably like five or six,
and ime we're asking him, I said, oh, no, we'll
never get divorced. I still remember they were standing right
by the washing machine. I I just you know, And
that was actually that actually bothered me more when they
got divorced than the divorced itself. That they told me
that they wouldn't. Later my mom was like, oh, I
(08:52):
never would have said that. Mst have been your father.
And honestly, I don't remember which one of them said that.
You know, I divorced my child's father, and you know,
how do I make this the best experience for him possible?
How did she bye by being generous first of all,
financially generous with his time with Draco. He was generous
(09:15):
with me, so I breastfed Ridaco for the first two
and a half years of his life. And when we split,
Mike could have demanded fifty to fifty time at that point,
and he didn't. He let Draco sleep overnight with me
every every night until I decided that we were done breastfeeding,
which is about two and a half years in an
incredible gift that I will never take for granted. I
(09:37):
was generous with him, like I mean, he could come
over at anytime that he wanted to see Draco, and
they would have time together and they'd go and then
come back whatever. It was generous. Financially, I was the
main breadwinner, and I did my own like calculation and
like figured out figured out what, you know, what was
reasonable and checked with him and like we went to
(09:58):
a therapist. We did divorce therapy. Let's figure out the
custy schedules, figure out the financials with our therapist. And
she was a therapist who was our marriage therapist when
we realized we needed help except whatever. So so doing
it like that meant that it was just a spirit
(10:19):
of collaboration and not trying to take stuff from each
other and not trying to be stingy, but be generous.
It feels so much better when you're not at war.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
It's just emotions that take over the reaction versus the response,
you know.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Right, so you have to have lots of conversations with yourself. Yeah,
I want this to go.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
That's very mature of you guys. Were Definitely that's the
definition of adulting.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Right, Yes, adulting, which is good. We should all be adulting.
If you're an adult to be adulting, yeah, they can, Yeah,
the responsible things to do. So yeah, and I'm and
to this day. We help each other and we're were
with whatever, and and it's good and Draco loves it.
Draco loves sing let's get along. And it's so much
(11:07):
healthier for him and healthier for us.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Yeah. And it's not always been easy. There been rough
patches here and there, but but yeah, you just keep
you keep striving or that that ideal.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Yeah, you became America's sweetheart. Was that a lot of
pressure when you started the wonder years? Well, you were.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
I did not realize at all. So I was going
to school and I was going to work, and I
was going to school and going to work, and I
go went I didn't go to Hollywood parties. I didn't
do any of that stuff. I had no idea if
I went, if I was at some event, if if
there were drugs going on, I had no idea. I
was not. I just wasn't a part of any of that.
I was. I was very much to go to two
(11:59):
shoes and wanted to do the right thing, get good grades,
and you know it was fun. The last season, somebody
said that to me on set and I was like,
what what are you talking about? Like, what does that
even mean? Well, here's the thing, like I love the
fact that being in that position has allowed me to
write these math books and parents trust me with their kids' education,
(12:23):
and then I get to do like the movies that
I'm doing, these Christmas movies. I did one for Lifetime
in twenty thirteen, and I did seven for Homemark Channel,
and now I'm doing them for Great American Family Channel.
Just did my third one that I told you about
Cindy about like Christmas Fall with the waltzes in it,
an excuse to dance and all these wondable things I
get to do. You know, it's a lot of it's
(12:43):
been flavored by that base of being America's sweetheart of
making people feel warm and fuzzy. Because these Christmas movies,
it's all about feeling warm and fuzzy, and so we
get to add the childhood nostalgia onto that. It just helps.
It just amplifies what we're trying to do with movies.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
You're right, though, because why would you have pressure if
you're actually never partied, You never like got caught up
in that crowd. Like so people want a label. It's
just a label, right, Like, at the end of the day,
you are who you are at your true essence is
who you are, you know, and you just didn't get
caught up in that type of I guess environment.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Any thing. I felt pressure to do stuff a little bit,
like to do rebellious things or whatever. I mean I was.
I was in a sorority and the people to offer
me like pop Brannis and I was like, it's okay.
I I didn't. I just didn't. I felt pressure like
I would go to fraternity parties and get a can
of beer and dump it out and fill it with water,
(13:42):
so I didn't have pressure of people like how can
you not drink it? You know? So that's the kind
of stuff that I would do too.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
So you don't, you don't drink at all? Like not,
you just don't like it, or.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
I just don't feel good. I mean, like I'm not.
I'm not what they call sober, Like I don't like
I'll maybe once a month if I'm out of my husband,
like part of a drink. Like we went to Iceland
for our ten year wedding anniversary, which is incredible, and
one night we had dinner, and one of those nights
I ordered a drink. It was this really cool local
thing it had I don't even know it. I think
(14:15):
it was whiskey, but it also had like egg in it.
It was like like egg white froth. It's really good. Mm.
But it's but I don't think I've finished it.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
But you're you know, you're not an addict, like I'm
sober for six years because I did have a problem
with alcohol.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
So right, I did never have a problem with alcohol.
I just said, I'm a health nuts like I don't
want to do things that are going to backslade me
in terms of my health goals.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
I hear you. I really believe that all of this,
Uh andre for.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
You, by the way, congratulations, because I've done lots of
people and that's not easy.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
It's not it's daily. It's a daily thing, one step,
one day at a time.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Really well, let me tell you something. So when I
was in college, when I was at UCLA, one of
my fellow math majors, super cute, I like whatever. We
started dating and he was he had a problem with
drug drugs and alcohol, and he was when I met him,
he was sober. He was an AA and he recommended
that I go to alan On and I was like,
(15:12):
I mean why, but okay, So I did, and then
sure enough he fell off the wagon while we were dating,
and it was really hard, and that that's why I
started going to them like a few times a week,
and I learned all these amazing life lessons and strategies
for dealing with just life beyond like having like even
(15:34):
if so and I ended up like a year later,
we ended up breaking up, but I still would go
to alan On meetings. I mean I every now and then,
Like I mean, I haven't been since we moved to
Tennessee a couple of years ago, but I still have
the same let go and let God and then like
like the the idea that holding on and this helped
(15:54):
me to my divorce. The idea of holding on to
resentment and anger is like drinking poison and expecting the
other person to so to your point of like I
did that for Draco, I also did it for me
because if I'm looking at this person in my life
is my enemy that I'm dealing with all the time
because he's my child's father that puts poison in me
every day. And so yeah, so that was so alan
(16:17):
On helped me so much, so much and continues to
those philosophies and then in reasons yeah, yeah, and recently.
I told this story a lot if you've heard it.
But the last uh two years now I have developed
my faith like I now really like I am in
it and I have my faith journey and I love it.
(16:38):
I've been reading the Bible. I'm midway through reading for
the second time through I do this thing where I
read for the Bible in a year. It's this. There's
an app called the Bible Recap and it's great, and
so I'm going to be done with the Bible for
the second time all the way through at the end
of this year. It's really I've been I love I'm
very like goal oriented, so it's kind of very satisfying.
So but it's been amazing. And alan in some ways
(17:00):
prepped me for that, because I didn't have this idea
of God before that. I'm kind of my mom was
very spiritual, but it was more like there are spirits
around us. It wasn't like there's a God. And I'd
actually gone to Catholic school for a couple of years,
but I was getting different messages at home and so
it never really stuck, which is fine, I mean, but
(17:22):
it was so interesting that that alan On is what
ushered in my comfort with even the word God. Uh.
That then would percolate and.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Yeah, it's a big it's a big part of sobriety
that you know, you have to believe in something bigger
than yourself. And yeah, and that first was higher power,
to call it high power.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Yeah, And at first it was I was more comfortable
with the idea of how higher power. And then it
was the serenity prayer where I started saying God to myself, God,
grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things that I can, and
the wisdoms to know the difference. And I think every
meeting started and ended with that, and I still think
that to myself all time. That and the Lord's prayer,
those are the two things that I will just retreat to. Yeah,
(18:06):
feeling stressed.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
I truly believe, like my therapist still like, everything is
based off of those steps. I believe in general. But
the whole point are the lessons, right, the lessons that
are and the steps in order to you know, be
able to hand your life over to God. And it
is very true. And I think that first of all,
(18:29):
you've done such a like a interesting journey as far
as your faith goes, because not a lot. I don't
hear a lot of people finding faith, I would say,
especially in the entertainment industry. Who influenced you?
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Well, uh, Starting to start with my dad, he found
the Lord like twenty years ago or something like that,
and I was already an adult at that point, and
I remember him talking to me about it and being like, huh,
that's so, I'm happy for you because he seemed so
happy and peaceful. I was like, that's great, and I'd
(19:06):
go to church with him and stuff, but it wasn't
you know. And then my friend Kenneth Cameronberray, who was
on Great American Family with me, she she was she
was posting something on her Instagram a couple of years
three years ago now about forgiveness, and I was like,
and I text her, I'm like, okay, look, I just
don't understand this thing about like, okay, so you can
do whatever you want and then Jesus forgives her sins
(19:27):
and then you can just do it again. Like I
was like, I just don't I don't understand. She's like,
can I send you a Bible?
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Sure?
Speaker 2 (19:34):
So she sent me Bible.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Here.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
It's this one's golden right here. And I didn't even
open it at first. I just took a picture, like, oh,
how cool, and I posted it for her to promote
her Bible and then she invited me to go to
church with her. This was the end of twenty twenty one,
and it was just COVID was happening and it was
just hard. Things were getting shut down whenever there was
my outbreak. We were in Los Angeles at the time,
(19:59):
and then and then it worked out the week before Easter,
so it was Palm Sunday in twenty twenty two and
I it was a passion play. They did a passion
play and I saw I just got it. I don't
know everything, everything hit me all at once. I was
just bawling the whole time, and I felt it. I
(20:19):
just felt like I felt the Holy Spirit come to me.
That's what my dad says.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
It was.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
All I know is I'm I'm in now. And I
first head first, super happy. I went homeful and I
went on Instagram live and I just said everything that
I was thinking. I was like, you know, one of
the main things that this, one of the main revelations
that I had at that moment was that I had
always thought of religion as restrictive, like there's all these rules,
(20:47):
and yeah, maybe religions like that, but it's not about religion.
It's about relationship with God.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
It's your own personal journal, own.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Personal relationship, and there's so much freedom in that, especially
because everything is on your shoulders. Correct And I I'd
heard those messages in alan on but then I feel
like we get things in layers throughout our life, and
it just hit me all at once, like a huge,
big layer hit me.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
Would you say that was when you let go of
like not micromanaging, but like control trying to control outcomes
and like trying to.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
It's so funny because I knew all that stuff. It
was a huge, huge, like trust fall. I feel like
I've been in a huge and a big trust fall
ever since then.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Really, yeah, that's beautiful. I love that. And Candace for
my listeners, she also did Dancing with the Stars with
I love it. Okay, so let's just get into the show. Ben,
since we're we mentioned the title Dancing with the Stars.
I saw all of your dances and shout out to
dailymotion dot Com because I didn't just see your dances,
(21:55):
I saw your packages. I saw all the judges comments,
the scores.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Oh you're talking when I was on Dancing Stars.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Yeah, yeah, so you were a fan of the show.
Did your team reach out to the executives or did
they just call you and ask you to do it.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
I feel like we had reached out to them at
some point a few years prior to let them know
that I was interested. And then uh, and then Avril
Levigne did a music video and I was invited to
be in it, and and it was this very like
sort of risque. I mean, I was wearing this very
sexy outfit and it was this apocalyptic storyline and so
(22:38):
where everyone and I were like, I don't know, we
were all this heavy makeup and super sexy outfits. It
was like the end of the world. Very silly plot line,
but near Like in the middle of the music video,
the music stops and there's this scene between me and
her and this dog in the car where he was driving,
and we were like in an argument, like you should
(22:59):
I told her not to let him drive, you know,
so the dog. It was really silly. You can look
it up. It's the song was rock and Roll appera
Lvian's rock and Roll. And then at the end of it.
In the script it said that she and I almost kiss,
but before it kisses, it would cut away. Well we're
shooting it, and the director never said cuts. We just
(23:21):
like Presstyer lift against each other and it's like and
then what they did with that is they added this narration.
It was hilarious because it on the kiss, it did
a freeze frame and then it said that was our
first and only kiss together. But I often think back
on that day with wonder and I think when he
does too, and then the song starts again. So it's
(23:42):
really funny. Anyway, that happened, and suddenly Dance from the
Stars called and they said, hey, Valerie Harbor might have
to drop out, would Danny could be able to jump in?
And I was like yeah, But then she didn't drop out,
and then so then the next season they called for
me to do it. That's how it happened.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
Got it So you were like a and wanting like
telling your team to contact them like you were just
they knew I.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
Was interested, okay, and when and when they when they
but they called, but they called the Avril Lavine video dropped.
It was like a couple days later and.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
Out of every other accomplishment. It's that freaking music video
music video. I have to see it now. I definitely knew.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
It's a pretty funny video. It's like a five minute video.
It's but it's entertaining. Billy Zane was in it too.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Oh really, No, I have to see it now. Yea
and she Avril Levine. I think she performed during when
we had results shows back in the day. Did we
have result shows when you were on?
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (24:38):
Okay, I no, wait Mondays and Tuesdays. It'd be Mondays
and Tuesdays.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
It was only once a week.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
It was only you. Your dancing was incredible and I'm
harsh critic, like I have to say, I don't just
say that to people. You getting three eighths for example,
or however many judges there were for week one when
you did the fuck trot was it was well deserved
And I know people at that time may have asked
(25:08):
a lot if you had any dance experience? Did you?
Speaker 2 (25:11):
Or do you a little? Yes? Yeah, not as much
as Meryl davis Well, who was the gold medal winning
Olympic ice dancers that's basically a barm dancing on ice.
She is Charlie so I didn't have less experience with her, right,
(25:32):
A little experience I in, I guess eight years before that,
in two thousand and six, I had done a TV
movie for Lifetime that had a tango in it, and
so I learned, Uh, it was like international style of tango.
So I did that and in before that, in nineteen
ninety nine, when I right after college, I did I
played Rizzo and Greece in a Los Angeles area theater
(25:55):
and so it was like swing dancing stuff got and
I taken some lessons here and there after that because
I really liked it. Actually, yeah, no, So after the
TV movie in two thousand and six, I made good
friends in Dallas with would go to Chared Cliff. Do
you know these people? And Sharona got you Chilas. They
were like they're Blackpool and like ninety eight.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
I should know them a Latin professional Latin yes, last yeah,
maybe if I see their face. That was like my time.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
Like judges they do judging all over the country in
af Florida and Ohio and doing all those there's still
so they actually gave me lessons. They gave me like
rumba and trashaw lessons. I remember remember telling valves like.
I was like, I've had some lessons like that. He's like,
trust me. In this season especially, there's people with a
(26:45):
lot more dance experience than you. It's not going to
take too.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Like if you had one to two lessons or even
fifteen lessons, you still you know ballroom. It's like it
takes decades to master anything. Yes, that's why I don't
belie leave. Like even with Meryl, I believe it's a
lot harder when I've had someone with dance experience. It's
a lot harder if you haven't trained specifically in the
genre of ballroom, Like for example, with Meryl and Charlie,
(27:12):
they it was hard. I worked with them a lot.
When I did my live stage show in Japan, I
had them perform with us, and it was really hard
for them to all of a sudden have hip action
when you can't have hip action on ice for example,
Oh yeah, right, like can't isolate. And when I went
to Argentina to learn how to like authentically Argentine tango,
when the show outed that dance, it was so hard
(27:34):
for me to untrain, Like they don't want you to
break your wrists, they don't want any headsnaps. They don't
want anything manufactured, so they want everything pedestrian. So whenever
I would like just think that, oh the music's saying it,
so I'm just gonna do it myself, I would literally
get slept on the hand because I'm not you know,
so I don't. I think we all have our own
challenges as far as like meaning the celebrities, like, if
(27:56):
you do have dance experience, it's I think it's harder
to untrain the than it is to train it.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
So I think that and I but I think the
biggest advantage is are the athletes, and they had so
they had both things going for them. They were Olympians.
That kind of intense training I had never had before ever,
nothing even close to that. Physical demands and that the
mental mentality that yeah, like you're feeling completely unprepared. Now
(28:23):
you're going to go dance in front of twenty million people.
Go like and then now you're wearing a dress and
everything feels different. I mean that the first time I
was like, wait, it doesn't feel the same. It's like
there's no time for any of that. I used to
have these meltdowns and my husband, who was my fiance
at the time, he'd be like, you've got this, come on,
you got I'm like, I don't remember anything I do,
I'm doing it and freaking out.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
Week two, Yes, was really intense. Now I think my
listeners would love to know why is the show so intense?
Speaker 2 (28:55):
Well, I mean, you know this, it's much harder than
they show and packages because they it would bum people
out to see how stressful it is. It just wouldn't
be as fun anymore for people.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
You're so right, actually right, And.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
And I that Umember week too because for me, suddenly
we had half the time to learn a dance, which
felt like even less than half the time, and samba
is challenging, very different from foxtrot. I had not I mean,
I didn't know what I was doing, and I still
vou like charging me with tighten your stomach, and he
(29:30):
was like he was like charging at me, Like I thought,
is he gonna hit me? Obviously he wasn't gonna hit me.
But I will never forget and it's like sweat was
like flung off his face and I still would never
forget that moment, and it's very sobering, like oh okay, yes,
I would keep my cord tight I'm like, I wasn't
doing that before anyway, it was that week he was
he was hard on me, but he gave me this
(29:51):
really difficult choreography and he told me later like, yeah,
that was like a pro it was pro choreography that
I gave you. I'm like, and I just like when
I was one years old finding to walk their feeling
failure was not right. So I put an enormousmount of
pressure on myself to try to fulfill it, and it
broke me. I was in tears and and I was
(30:11):
I was. I was in tears because I was not
I didn't know how to handle that kind of pressure.
But it made me stronger. I mean, I'm grateful to
vow because I I like challenges. I like being pushed
beyond what I my comfort zone. I mean, I so
I welcome that kind of thing. I'm just working really
hard trying to do my best and felt completely unqualified
(30:35):
and interesting. So that was just I was always I
felt unqualified. What do you mean because I didn't know?
Speaker 1 (30:41):
Because I that's the point.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
Sure, But it's like I loved, I loved I've always
loved dance. But it's like i'mber telling somebody it was
like if you love chocolate, right, and somebody puts you
on a vat of chocolate and then holds your head
under it. That's what dancing the Star is like. And
then right now, then you get a breath. That's a
(31:04):
perfect yeah, because it's it's unrelenting. That's like how I
how I described motherhood, which, by the way, I love.
It's a different one, but it's similar. So it's like
if you if somebody says, okay, I'm gonna throw you
a ball, Okay, great, You're like on the football field.
So he throws the ball and then you run and
you just keep running. You never stop. That's what it
(31:26):
feels like when your child is young. Great things. You
just have to learn how to manage yourself so that
you can enjoy it, because both things are a big responsibility. No,
actually they honestly very being a mom has gotten easier
and easier.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
Did you request Val as your partner? Did they ask you?
They didn't ask who you'd want to dance with.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
No, But Dina Katz had texted me and she said,
what's your height? And I said, Derek hough Hide. But
anyway that I got Vale, it's fine. That's fine, I
didn't proquessing.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
What were your first impressions when you walked through that
door and saw Val that he.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
Was like this cool guy, you know, like I got
mister cool.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
Did you watch the show from season one or not.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
From season one? Although I did see your uh your
iconic like was it riding paper horse right cowboy? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (32:31):
Yeah? Yeah that was season two.
Speaker 2 (32:33):
Isn't okay? So then I probably watched from season two on.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
Okay, got it?
Speaker 2 (32:37):
Two thousand and five? What what year did this show?
Speaker 1 (32:39):
Two thousand? Well, the show was first season was two
thousand and six. I started two thousand no, no, sorry,
two thousand and five, and then I started two thousand
and six.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
Okay, so two thousand and six when I start watching.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
It, during switch up week, you danced with the other Schmerkowski. Yes,
what was that?
Speaker 2 (32:54):
Like he's been like the whole time talking about how
Marilyn he would practice and have a whole down on
Tuesday and they just have coffee the whole time, Like, well, that's.
Speaker 1 (33:04):
Why would anyone say this.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
I don't know if he's trying me feel bad. I
don't know what it was, but I mean, yeah, that
was that was interesting, And then it was then Julianne
called him out, saying that he phoned in the choreography
with me. It was a little it was a little
light on content. I think he thought I couldn't handle more,
and so he was like dumbing it down for me.
(33:27):
That's what I think happened. It's fine, whatever, It's all good, honestly.
So Week three it was the first week that I
had intense pain with the rib that would eventually break.
So it's actually kind of good because and I was
wearing a brace That's why I had that one piece on,
so I had a brace on underneath for my ribs.
So it was probably good for me to have like
a light week off in a way, and and then
(33:50):
then I could come back stronger Week five and then
week six is when it broke. But like I needed that.
I probably if I had had a really intense number,
I probably would broken it that week.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
It was dive is jive? Yeah got it? Yeah, but
still kind of like like I remember switch that week
I danced with Alfonso and I was I think I
was dancing with Antonio Sabado Junior that season, and I
was like hell, yeah, I was so excited, and I
think it's healthy actually to take a break. They don't
do it anymore because from what I've heard, I don't
(34:21):
know if this is true, but what I've heard is
that a lot of the dancers would get except for me,
I guess, would get super emotional about it because like
if your celebrity does better with another person, it's kind
of like adds that pressure. But I think it's healthy
because it's like a marriage. It's an arranged marriage, this
whole thing, right, right, Like you're stuck with this person
seven days a week, either like each other you don't,
(34:44):
and it's a healthy break to kind of like okay,
and then you either miss them or you don't.
Speaker 2 (34:48):
Yeah, right, Yeah, it's true.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
What is the biggest difference between Max and Bell's teaching style?
Speaker 2 (34:56):
Max wasn't interested in teaching me. I mean, both of
them one him to win that season because he had
never won before, and with Meryl Davis as a partner
that was SiGe, so like a vout from day one,
he was like, I want my brother to win this,
and that's fine. I'm Meryl's gonna win any Merril or
Tarler's gonna win anyway, so that works out just fine.
I was really touched by the fact that Val wanted
(35:17):
Max to win, and I always thought that was really
cool of him, and so that kind of made me
feel like, Okay, well, I love the love between the
brothers and I wanted to support that and if we
if and I needed the week off. Honestly, I really did.
My My rip hurts so much I could barely Like
I remember it was after the week three contemporary dance
was done. It like suddenly I felt it and I
went to the doctor and they said, well, nothing's broken yet,
(35:37):
but we can tell there's some bruising and wear brace,
you know, And so I was already they're ready to
and I remember maxying like I just want to bubble
wrap you and like deliver you safely back to Val.
So there's a lot of stuff going on. But I
but I so there wasn't there. There just wasn't the
same drive, you know, like we're gonna make this the
(35:58):
best dance ever. That wasn't it. And there was no
comp petition between the two brothers.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
Right, that's nice. Actually, did did you raise the awareness
about your rib hurting to production when it started irritating you?
Speaker 2 (36:11):
Or I'm sure they knew when they had cameras on
us the whole time.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
Okay, so you did talk to them about it, They
just didn't make it a package until it was fractured.
Speaker 2 (36:20):
I guess right. Yeah, we were trying to do a
three sixty when in one, which we should have done like,
but I was just trying so hard to make it
work and I was determined and it hurt, but I
was like, you know what, I'm gonna be like a
tough dancer because that's what you do as a dancer.
So that that was what it ultimately caused the rib
to break.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
Did you guys get along for the most part or oh?
Speaker 2 (36:41):
Yeah, for sure, for sure. And I really appreciated him
being tough pont of me. I knew that I was
getting better. I could feel it, and it was exciting.
He wanted to push me, and if I'm not getting
pushed by a Max for whatever reasons, I appreciate even
more when Vowel was pushing me to really do well.
He didn't give me easy correct ever. It was, it was,
(37:02):
It was complex, it was and I remember well when
I was doing the chat shop, just doing the uh
like the camera blocking, I guess for the chat chop
the day before performed and Max wokbin He goes, what
are you like getting ready for competition or something like,
because it was just whatever the choreography was, it wasn't
as showy as it was using I don't know values
(37:25):
to say that. He said, I can tell what you
can do. When you don't do it, it makes me
angry because you can't do it.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
I heard him say during one of your rehearsals, he goes,
I don't want you to try to do it, I
want you to do it.
Speaker 2 (37:38):
I was like, well, this is this really was trying
my best all the time.
Speaker 1 (37:46):
You don't do this show and not trying your best
unless your master p God bless him. Do you were
you shocked by your elimination?
Speaker 2 (37:59):
Yes? And know I the week so and during that
season you were voted off based on the week before.
So that meant that you could vote the entire show.
It wasn't like now we're voting closes fifteen minutes before
because they're using that night's votes. In that season, it
was the prior Monday. Those scores are what effect or
(38:21):
what determined who gets voted off that so you can
have like the best nine of your life, but you
could get voted off because of the night prior, the
week prior anyway, So week seven, So I broke my
rib between week six and week seven, so I performed,
So I danced week seven, and that my whole package
on week seven was about my broken rib. And for me,
when I see somebody's injured, I don't vote for them.
(38:42):
I'm like, they need to go home and the rest.
There was a little snafoo in the middle of the
salsa number on week seven where my valvelattest finger caught
in my glove. I was wearing these web gloves and
so we had to spin me with a different hand,
and it felt different and I got a little lost.
And it wasn't right away. It was like a couple
of steps later that suddenly didn't feel familiar as like,
(39:03):
and it was awful. But I look at it and
it just looks a little sloppy. It doesn't look like
I had no idea where I was for like ten seconds,
twenty seconds, and I'm a later he said, look, I
know it felt like World War three out there, but honestly,
with the camera angles, you couldn't really tell. And that
was when I that's when I realized that they already
judges already have their comments figured out because they didn't
(39:23):
call me out on that. Instead they called me out
on the fact that it was souls and I wasn't
moving my ribs as much as I could. And I
actually think I did do a fine with my rids
hooping because I don't know, I had like they gave
me like a shot of something I had to feel anything.
So I was really proud of that anyway, So.
Speaker 1 (39:40):
Okay, quickly, because I know you have to go rapid fire.
Who falls in love first, the celebrity or the pro dancer.
Speaker 2 (39:46):
Falls in love with the other one?
Speaker 1 (39:49):
Yeah, like not saying you guys did, but like you know,
because it does happen, right, people fall in love.
Speaker 2 (39:55):
Right probably the probably the celebrity will fall in love
with the pro because they're like, well, if it's the woman,
is the celebrity because like you feel taken care of
the most, and the other way too, because the women
are really sexy. You guys are amazingly sexy, and so
I can see the guy's falling. So yeah, the celebrity
would have fallen in love.
Speaker 1 (40:16):
Do you think the show is rigged?
Speaker 2 (40:19):
I think it's a reality show, not a dance competition.
Speaker 1 (40:22):
Show smart answer is the voting system fair?
Speaker 2 (40:27):
Who knows?
Speaker 1 (40:29):
Who? Do you ever feel like throwing in the.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
Towel as much as I can? Which is only vaguely
feeling that way, but knowing I never would.
Speaker 1 (40:39):
Fan questions quickly at Sasap Underscore posh If Dancing on
the Stars would do an all star season again? Would
you want? Who would you want as your pro partner?
Who is currently dancing on the show Gloves Shinko? Oh,
I love that.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
I've danced with him now in a movie A good teacher.
Speaker 1 (40:58):
Do you like his teaching style?
Speaker 2 (40:59):
Great teachure. Now we don't have the pressure of dancing
with the stars. It was a movie, you know, it's different.
But he's a fantastic teacher. We dance really well together.
It's just easy to dance with that. I'm not sure why.
I think just some.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
People just pere up well interesting.
Speaker 2 (41:14):
If I had an opportunity to dance with them on stage,
I would, I mean, I love that?
Speaker 1 (41:18):
At Sassy Ginger fifty five, why did you leave Hallmark.
Speaker 2 (41:22):
So great? American Family Channel was started by the man
who ran Hallmark Channel for twenty years. Bill Abbott is
his name. I credit him with reviving my career, giving
me this genre. I did like fifteen movies with him
in a Hallmark channel. So when he left to start
his own network and he asked me to come along,
I was like, yeah, and also a Hallmark. I never
had an overall deal, and with Great America and I
had these multi picture deals. They let me be way
(41:44):
more involved in the writing and the producing. It is
so creatively fulfilling with the fact that I'm doing that.
I've done two dance movies because I wanted to do
dance movies, Like I'm just went way more involved. And
it is a smaller network, but I know it has
fewer viewers at this point, but I know it's growing
and it's and they have given me opportunities to weave
my faith into some of the stories. The really great situation.
(42:08):
I'm so grateful for it, and I'm very grateful to
Bill as well.
Speaker 1 (42:11):
I love I also heard you say in one of
your interviews that You've always wanted to portray a dancer
in one of your movies, So I'm happy you or
you were able to do that.
Speaker 2 (42:19):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (42:20):
Last question, current projects that you're working on, anything you
want to promote.
Speaker 2 (42:25):
Well, So, I just shot a movie for Great America
that comes out in the spring, and I can't talk
about it yet, but I think it's word within weeks
of being able to announce it. That was a really,
really great experience with somebody who's also been on Dancing
with the Stars. I wish I could talk to you
about it, but I can't. Maybe we can do a
follow up in a few weeks. Okay, So, and then
(42:46):
my movie that comes out at the end of this month,
a Cinderella Christmas Ball, so that I play a dance
teacher who from Chicago, who was adopted as a young
girl because her mom died when she was very young,
and never knew my father. My father's name isn't even
on the Firth certificate. My foster parents have just recently passed,
and I'm going through a box of their things and
I find a picture of my birth mom that I've
(43:07):
never seen before, from the year before I was born,
and she's in a wedding dress and she's holding hands
with a man who's taking the picture. She's like and
so this is the first evidence I've ever had of
my dad. The back of the picture says haven Shire.
You know nineteen eighty seven or whatever. I'm like, wait
a minute, that was like December. I'm like, that was
nine months before I was born. Is this is this
(43:27):
my father? And so I go on this adventure to
have inshire. While I'm there, it's harder to figure it
out than I thought, and I ended up becoming the
dance I need to get a job. I've become a
dance teacher to the prince who has to learn a
waltz for their big Christmas gala that they unofficially called
the Cinderella Christmas Ball because this is one of those
years where the prince has to choose his bride, and
(43:49):
like in Cinderella, he dances with ladies and then announces
his bride by doing it very special waltz. And so
I'm teaching him this very special waltz anyway, so you
can guess where it goes. But me, with my search
for my family, I'm helping him learn this dance that
he doesn't really want to learn because he hasn't chosen
a bride, and usually it's just a formality he goes
yeah for generations, like the prince knows who's going to
(44:11):
propose to It's just this old tradition, but this year
he doesn't know, and so that's you can probably.
Speaker 1 (44:18):
I love I just got like sucked into your explanation.
So it's really it's about hypnotized by you.
Speaker 2 (44:23):
Yeah. So Friday November twenty ninth, the night after Thanksgiving,
so which for some people is the first acceptable day
to start celebrating Christmas. It'll be on Great American Family Channel.
And if people follow me on social media, which is
just at Danik and mckeller, they'll be get almost updates
and reminders.
Speaker 1 (44:38):
Thank you so much, Danica, Thank you so much. Fun,
so fun. Good to catch up you too. Bye bye,
and that's a wrap. As always, don't forget to Please
take a moment to rate and review this episode as
well as click on that follow button so that you'll
get notified whenever we drop a new episode, and do
so wherever you're currently listening to this podcast. Even if
(44:58):
you've already rated reviewed this podcast, make sure to make
up another title or name and do it again, even
if you've done so a million times already, as it's
absolutely key to the podcast success. Your feedback and support
is invaluable. And just so you know, I read every
single review, so Thank you guys so much and I
look forward to reading more of them as they come.
Make sure to drop in on Wednesday as I recap
(45:19):
the latest episode of Dancing with the Stars, and don't
forget to come back again on Friday for headlines. Until
next time, Love you guys. Bye,
Host
Cheryl Burke
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