Brooke Burke Credits Navigation Of "Dancing With The Stars" Exit To Kindergarten Daughter

Brooke Burke's run on "Dancing With The Stars" came to an end about 10 years ago, but her inspiration to focus on "what next" came from family!

The television personality appeared on the "Tamron Hall Show" and spilled major tea on her time on the dance show and how her future unfolded afterward. Burke co-hosted the dance show for seven seasons before announcing that she would not be returning right before season 18.

The 52-year-old sat down with Tamron Hall to talk about life, experiences, and family, including how her daughter inspired her to look at life differently and focus, especially after leaving "DWTS."

Burke walked the audience through a conversation she had with her daughter, Rain. She shared that Rain was in kindergarten after she left the show, and she remembered panicking about the next step to take concerning her career. In her words:

"I remember driving to school in the morning with Rain, and I was going through that inner dialogue of ‘oh my goodness, what’s going to happen now, what do i do now."

She continued that she caught her daughter looking at her and going, "Mommy, this is the most amazing time ever," as Rain added that she gets to spend more time with Burke. Right that moment, the actress disclosed that she saw it as a sign from God that everything was going to be alright in the end. 

The 52-year-old also addressed her Derek Hough affair comment on Cheryl Burke's podcast "Sex, Lies & Spraytans." According to Burke, she stated that "she would have had an affair with Hough if she hadn’t been married."

However, she told Tamron that it is "interesting how words can be misunderstood" before affirming that she never had an affair as her marriage at the time was a faithful one. Burke clarified that the comment was borne out of the strong bond that they shared as a team on the show. 

On the podcast earlier this month, Burke spilled that beneath the chemistry, she and Hough actually had real-life problems that made her consider quitting the competition.

She shared that Hough was mostly exhausted due to the fact that he was recording an album at night. Burke, on the other hand, was struggling with the hormones of feeding and caring for a 3-month-old baby and staying up all night and training all day, as she added:

"I kind of could have tapped out because I had an injury. I was done. I just wanted to go back to what was easy. I was literally taking Epsom salt baths in the morning, getting ready to go to rehearsal. I was coming home at night, like crying in the shower because I was in pain. I was hurting, and I didn’t have faith in my body."

Thanks to the life-changing advice from her then-husband David Charvet at that period, which strengthened her mental health and pushed her to make a change in her relationship with Hough.

Per The Blast, the actress shared that she "made a commitment and promise to meet each other with honesty and compassion" with Hough and it turned out to be her Mirrorball-winning season in 2008.

The mother-of-four boasts a 33-year career that includes modeling, hosting, and participating in more than 12 TV shows, she has written three books, she once survived thyroid cancer and now she has founded a fitness company.

Burke and Charvet finalized their divorce in 2020, and she soon found love in the arms of 55-year-old Scott Rigsby. Burke and Rigsby began their whirlwind romance in 2018 and announced their engagement in 2021, and they are still waxing strong.

Per Daily Mail, Rigsby is a founding partner of a real estate services firm that debuted in October 2010 and was married to interior designer Heather LaCombe, with whom he had two children.

However, Chavet and LaCombe went their separate ways in 2019, with an order for Rigsby to pay $8,500 in monthly child support and share legal custody of their kids. The marriage ended amid claims of domestic violence, and Heather was granted a domestic violence restraining order against the real estate guru.