Cheryl Burke on Being Celibate: ‘I Touch Myself All the Time. It’s Great'

There is no shame in Cheryl Burke‘s self-love game. The star, 41, recently sat down with Us to talk about her recent weight loss, dealing with social media trolls, plastic surgery allegations and the state of her dating life. Regarding that last one, it’s non-existent — and Burke is OK with that.

“I need to heal still in that sense,” she told Us, referring to her 2022 divorce from Matthew Lawrence. The two met in 2006, started dating in 2007, broke up in 2008, reunited in 2017, got engaged in 2018 and said their “I do’s” in May 2019.

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But after three years of marriage, Burke and Lawrence were over. She said in 2024 that her role as breadwinner made things tough: “I learned that you can’t buy love.” (Lawrence is currently dating TLC’s Chili.)

So does she miss intimacy and physical touch in the meantime? “I touch myself all the time,” Burke says. “It’s great. We are good to go. There’s no emotional baggage that comes with it.”

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Which is a pretty great point — especially given all the emotional baggage she’s currently dealing with in other areas of her life. Namely, fending off online trolls who seem obsessed with critiquing her looks and attacking her character.

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Strangers tuning in for her popular “Get Ready With Me” videos and other social content who noticed her recent weight loss have felt comfortable telling her they thought she looked better before. Some accused her of using GLP-1‘s, having excessive plastic surgery and undergoing skin lightening, all of which she denies.

“It’s a tired subject, and it’s not just talking and commenting,” Burke says. “People are making full-on TikTok videos that they’re editing together, scripting, using graphics, arrows, to point out my face, about the scars that they supposedly see.” She tells Us she’s astonished by the amount of time people have dedicated to tearing her apart.

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Burke admits that her appearance has changed, but says it’s part of a natural transformation, both metaphorical and literal. “Think about the mask I was wearing on the show, from head to toe. My skin color was 20 shades darker,” Burke, 41, tells Us. “That was just what I knew; that’s the competitive ballroom world. I’m learning and realizing who I am underneath all of the makeup, without the tanning beds, the spray tans, all of the extra stuff that I now call a mask.”

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As for what it would take for Burke to break her celibacy? “Probably actually dating,” she says. “I’m no casual person. I also need to first not be a bad picker, period. If it happens, it happens.” 

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It’s all of a piece with her new happier, healthier mindset, which includes the seventh anniversary of her sobriety in July. “I no longer chase chaos dressed as fun,” she told Us. “I no longer tolerate connections that require me to abandon myself. And I no longer mistake numbness for peace.”