Making progress. Cheryl Burke revealed that she recently attended her first Alcoholics Anonymous meeting after getting advice from her former Dancing With the Stars partner AJ McLean.
“I knew that if I didn’t take that step forward to be a part of Alcoholics Anonymous, I don’t know if I’d be sitting here today with you,” the Dance Moms alum, 37, said during the Friday, July 2, episode of Good Morning America.
Cheryl Burke and AJ McLean. Shutterstock (2)
Though the reality star has been open about her struggles with sobriety, she said she had been afraid to attend AA meetings because of her fear of interacting with new people. “The thought of having to be with a new group of strangers in a way really ate me alive,” she explained on GMA. “I deal with a lot of social anxiety, but I realized that I needed to be able to hear other people’s stories, other people who struggle with alcoholism and addiction.”
Earlier this week, the California native revealed that she has recently been thinking “a lot lately” about drinking again.
Cheryl Burke and AJ McLean. RHTY/starmaxinc.com/Shutterstock
“I have a lot of personal stuff going on right now at the moment, and so it’s been very … I feel like I’m walking on a really tight rope at the moment,” Burke said during the Sunday, June 27, episode of the “Pretty Messed Up” podcast she cohosts with McLean, 43, and.Rene Elizondo Jr. “Therapy’s not working right now.”
During that conversation, the DWTS pro asked Elizondo, 58, to be her sponsor. The dancer encouraged her to attend a meeting and see how it felt. “I promise you start coming and you start hearing these other people’s stories, you get pumped in the same way that a Peloton instructor pumps you up,” he said.
Burke told GMA that she thought her recent battle to stay sober may have been triggered by the fact that she turned 37 in May. “The feeling of anxiety, you know, whether it’s my career, what am I gonna do?” she explained. “Am I gonna have a family soon?”
She also admitted that she previously drank before interviews and red carpet appearances, but has since turned to meditation practice to help her get ready for public events. “Normally I would drink before any major red carpet event or anything to do with any type of public speaking or appearances,” she said. “I would drink before an interview like this.”
Asked what she did before her GMA interview, Burke replied, “Just put more makeup on my face. Played with my hair. I meditated actually right before as well. I just have to breathe and know that everything’s gonna be OK.”
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