Cheryl Burke made a painful confession on a talk show, revealing that she suffered abuse from her ex-boyfriend in her teens. She also talked about enduring abuse as a child. Cheryl even revealed that the parents of the then-teenager saw the facts, but instead of helping her, they remained silent. She had just gone through a difficult divorce and was threatened with going to trial against her ex-husband for the custody of their daughter.
On ‘Red Table Talk’ show, Burke discussed her experience of abuse with Jada Pinkett Smith, Adrienne Banfield- Norris, trauma psychologist Dr Alfiee Breland Noble and others. She spoke openly about the years of anguish she endured. In the stirring conversation, she discussed her divorce, recovery, and her childhood trauma.
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Cheryl Burke Was ‘Groomed’ As A Child By Her Babysitter
Cheryl Burke claims that an “old, retired mailman” who was her babysitter “sexually molested” her. The dancer further said that despite there being “no intercourse,” he “groomed” her and that in her adolescence, he had become the “definition of love.”
She stated, “It wasn’t intercourse. It was other stuff that happened, sexual acts, but I never physically felt hurt. There was moments… [where] it didn’t feel bad. It was actually intimate. He was grooming me, and he was my definition of love. This is what love equaled, right? Seeing my father’s infidelity, being abused by this old retired mailman, and I didn’t really know what a “healthy” relationship is or was.”
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Cheryl Endured Abuse In Her Teens
The incident is from she was a young girl and was having an on-and-off relationship with a boyfriend, and said that his parents did nothing to prevent it and were spectators of the abuse. She didn’t reveal the identity of the man. Cheryl revealed, “I don’t want to be too graphic, but in high school, I’ll never forget, the person I was with on and off for about four years whipped me with a belt.”
She added, “And I had bruises all over my legs. I remember his parents were watching, they didn’t do anything. And it wasn’t like he was hitting me, he was whipping me.”
Burke On How Dancing ‘Saved’ Her
She spoke with host Jada Pinkett-Smith and said, “There wasn’t a stable father figure in my life. It’s like brainwashing at those moments in your childhood when it really matters. This happened for many years and no one said anything, other than my older sister’s friend who did the right thing, ran home to her parents, and told them, and then they contacted my family. I actually testified against him at nine, I believe. Thank God for dancing. It saved my life.”
The world of dance wasn’t fully a “safe space,” Cheryl said, and she is now aware that during her career in the male-dominated world of ballroom, she had also been subjected to ‘sexual and mental abuse’.
“Within this industry of the competitive ballroom world, it is very much a man’s world. The man leads, the woman follows, off the dance floor and on the dance floor. With that comes abusive partners and abusive coaches,” she continued, adding, “Were there acts of sexual abuse and mental abuse? One hundred percent. Am I just coming to realize that? Yeah, for sure, as I continue to do the work.”
Alcoholism Troubles
She remarked that she was having issues with heavy drinking and mentioned that her father was an alcoholic as well. She said that she was so terrible that she would likely have died if she hadn’t attended rehabilitation: “My father passed away, and my dad was an alcoholic. So either I was gonna crash and burn and check myself into rehab, or I was gonna just quit cold turkey.”
She explained, “I’ve been sober for four years, and to say my life has been a roller coaster during that time period would be an understatement. My road to sobriety began the night of my engagement party in 2018.I had recently lost my father, who was also an alcoholic, and that moment in my life was a huge turning point in many ways.”
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