Matthew Lawrence is sharing what it was like to deal with a marriage breakdown in the public eye following his well-publicized split from ex-wife Cheryl Burke.
The actor, 45, addressed the breakup in an interview with Daily Mail published on Thursday, January 1, when he was asked what it was like to form a bond with his new partner Chilli (real name Rozonda Thomas), following his public divorce. (The former couple married in 2019 before Burke filed for divorce in 2022.)
“That’s one of the interesting things about when you choose to be in a career like this is that your private life is public, so you have to live those things out on a public stage,” he told the outlet. “And I don’t think that’s really fun for anybody, you know?”
Lawrence, who has mostly remained relatively tight-lipped about his separation from Burke over the years, added that it was difficult to deal with other people’s versions of what went wrong in his marriage.
“Especially when you don’t really have control of the narrative or if the narrative isn’t even true, you kind of just have to say, ‘Well, I’m going to have to just go on with my life and continue to live the life I want to live. And the people that I care about know what’s real and what’s not,’” he continued. “And, you just have to grow thick skin and continue on.”
Former Dancing With the Stars pro Burke, 41, has been candid about her thoughts on her divorce from Lawrence in the past. Speaking on the “I Do, Part 2” podcast in October 2025, Burke admitted she was still “grieving” the relationship breakdown, which happened around the same time she exited DWTS after 26 seasons.
“It wasn’t just the divorce with my ex. It was the divorce with Dancing with the Stars all in one year, and then leaving my home I lived in for 16 years and I moved to where I am today,” Burke explained. “So it’s like, it’s just, it was all happening in one year, and those are three big life changes. They say, if you hit five in one year, you’re most likely going to check into the nearest mental institution.”
Matthew Lawrence and Cheryl Burke. (Photo by Steve Granitz/WireImage)
Burke added, “To say that I haven’t or still sometimes grieve would be a lie too. I think it can be both, you know? I know that I needed to cut off basically both divorces in order for me to be able to see what I see in the mirror and actually like the person I see.”
In October 2024, Burke also claimed on a different episode of the same podcast that financial issues negatively impacted their marriage. She wondered aloud if Lawrence felt “emasculated” by earning less than she did.
“I knew what I was marrying. I knew what I was getting into financially,” Burke said at the time. “I’m not going to speak for him. I’m not here to bad mouth him whatsoever. But I believe that there is this gender role.”
She continued: “A man may feel a little emasculated when he doesn’t make the majority of the money. I think that may have taken a toll.”
For his part, the Mrs. Doubtfire star moved on with Chilli and the couple are now happier than ever since they were first romantically linked in late 2022.
“I wouldn’t have been ready for this type of relationship in my early 20s. No way,” Lawrence exclusively told Us Weekly of his romance with Chilli on December 19 last year.
He added that even in his 30s, he still might not have been ready for their type of love that he and the TLC singer share. But now, the timing was perfect.
“I think I would have definitely responded the same way, but I don’t know if I would have had the maturity or the experience of knowing what the other side is like, so that I would appreciate [it] as much as I do,” he explained to Us.
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