ABC
Dancing With the Stars pro dancer Cheryl Burke is two years sober now, and her husband Matthew Lawrence recently revealed just how deep Burke’s struggle with alcoholism was. Lawrence discussed their relationship and struggles on an episode of the “Pretty Messed Up” podcast, which is hosted by Burke along with AJ McLean and his wife Rene Elizondo.
During the recent episode, Lawrence spoke with McLean, Elizondo and Burke about his own past with drugs and alcohol before opening up about his relationship with Burke through the years.
Burke and Lawrence reconciled after 10 years apart in 2017 and got engaged in 2018. Their wedding was an intimate one at the Fairmont Grand Del Mar in 2019, according to Inside Weddings.
Burke & Lawrence First Split in 2008 After Struggles With Partying
Though they reconciled in 2017, Burke and Lawrence were originally a couple starting in 2007 and 2008 after Lawrence began experimenting with drugs and alcohol.
“I went all the way to 20 years old without experiencing anything,” Lawrence said on the podcast. “I didn’t drink, I didn’t smoke, I didn’t try anything. And then I booked a movie out of the country and I tried everything for the first time, all in about three months.”
He said that after that was when he met Burke in Hollywood, and the two started going out every night of the week in Hollywood.
“After about a year, it just kept getting worse,” Lawrence said after being asked why he didn’t leave her when he realized the partying was a problem. “It was now 4 or 5 in the morning she was coming home, it was just too much and so I ended it.”
Burke is Now Two Years Sober
After getting engaged in 2018, Burke stopped drinking completely, and the DWTS pro recently revealed that she is two years sober.
On the “LadyGang” podcast in September 2020, Burke shared that she is now two years sober.
“It was just a decision that I made for myself,” she said at the time. “It was during [our] engagement party that … I was just, like, done.”
Burke also revealed that her father struggled with alcoholism and died not long before that engagement party. She said that during the party, she broke out into hives and that her “body was reacting, not reacting well to the alcohol at all” and she felt as though she was “burning from the inside out” after taking one shot of alcohol.
Then, she decided to stop drinking and has not had a drink since. Lawrence, on the other hand, recently gave up smoking marijuana, he said on the “Pretty Messed Up” podcast. He does still have the occasional drink in front of Burke, but she says that it doesn’t tempt her at all.
“I don’t crave it,” she added. “It’s almost like I got, like, hypnotized or something. I feel like my brain got rewired.”
She said she’ll still grab beers for everyone else if they want to have a drink and she does not even feel like joining in. Lawrence also said he could not remember the last time he had had an alcoholic drink.
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