In the three years since their divorce was finalized, Dancing with the Stars alum Cheryl Burke has talked openly about her split from Matthew Lawrence.
In an October episode of the I Do, Part 2 podcast, the former choreographer, 41, admitted she is still grieving her broken marriage.
‘To say that I haven’t or still sometimes grieve would be a lie too. I think it can be both, you know?’ she said, before adding that she had to cut-off DWTS too in order to work on herself. ‘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.’
But for Lawrence, 45, who has since moved on with TLC singer Chilli, silence was the favored option.
Now in an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, he has opened up about why he refrained from discussing the divorce, even in the wake of what he said were false narratives.
‘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 said. ‘And I don’t think that’s really fun for anybody, you know?
Matthew Lawrence has talked to the Daily Mail about why he has refrained from speaking about his divorce from Cheryl Burke, who has talked openly about their split (pictured in 2018)
Lawrence, 45, pictured with his girlfriend Chilli, said he was forced to grow a ‘thick skin’ in the wake of ‘false narratives’ about his marriage and divorce
‘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.”‘
‘And, you just have to grow thick skin and continue on,’ he added.
Lawrence and Burke were married from May 2019 until the dancer filed for divorce in February 2022, citing irreconcilable differences. It was finalized that September.
Burke later appeared to suggest that her career on DWTS and being the breadwinner in their relationship may have caused tensions.
Speaking an episode of the Amy & T.J. podcast last year, she said: ‘I believe that there is this gender role where a man may feel a little emasculated when he doesn’t make the majority of the money, and I think that may have taken a toll.’
She also admitted that she tried to make their relationship work – the pair tried couples therapy – but eventually, she said they grew apart and different priorities and life goals reportedly got in the way.
Although Lawrence remained tight-lipped for the most part about the split, he admitted that divorce had ‘tested’ him.
‘I learned so much about myself, and I’m so thankful and blessed for the opportunity to grow and that’s what came out of it,’ he told Entertainment Tonight.
Lawrence told the Daily Mail that it isn’t fun going through a divorce in the public eye, ‘especially when you don’t have really control of the narrative’
The Boy Meets World alum met TLC’s Chilli, 54, while going through his divorce and the pair started out as friends before becoming a couple in the summer of 2022
They are now fronting new dating show, Second Chance Love, which premieres on January 1 on Hallmark+
Lawrence moved on with 54-year-old Chilli, real name Rozonda Thomas in 2022. The pair were first seen in public together on vacation in Hawaii that August. They later revealed they had met at a 90’s Con and started out as friends before it developed into a relationship.
They have kept their romance largely out of the public eye, but have now teamed up to host a new reality dating series, Second Chance Love.
Premiering on January 1 on Hallmark+, the series follows five couples who reunite in Sardinia, Italy, to see if they still have a spark years after breaking up.
Lawrence and Chilli were drawn to the concept of the show as well as the fact that the focus was not on ‘showcasing [their] relationship’.
‘It was about these people and what the mission statement is that it’s kind of, you know, seeing if that person that you constantly thought about from your past is something that maybe could have a future or if it should be left in the past, and we like that Hallmark really wanted to focus on that,’ Lawrence told the Daily Mail.
‘It wasn’t about our relationship or doing a reality show about us. That was not going to be cool for us.’
The pair insisted they would ‘never ever’ want a reality TV show based on their lives and for Chilli, she’s letting Lawrence stick to acting while she focuses on her R&B group TLC alongside Tionne ‘T-Boz’ Watkins.
‘No, but I’m always going to support it,’ she said when asked if she was going to be part of any of his upcoming projects.
For now, TLC are getting ready for their next Farewell Tour, which Chilli believes could last ‘two or three years.’
There is also the upcoming musical, CrazySexyCool: The TLC Musical, which is set to premiere in June 2026 in Washington, D.C., and run through August.
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