Why Brooke Burke "Hoped" for "Affair" with Derek Hough
Despite gushing over their bond, Brooke Burke was not close to waltzing into a romance with Derek Hough off the dance floor.
Weeks after the Dancing With the Stars alum—who took home the Mirrorball trophy alongside Derek in 2008—detailed her past outlook on a possible "love affair" with the ballroom pro, she's setting the record straight and sharing how her now-ex-husband David Charvet felt at the time.
Noting that she had "very clear boundaries" when it came to her relationship with the singer, whom she was dating at the time and later wed in 2011, Brooke revealed that he was more than encouraging.
"David went to every show and sometimes to rehearsals and he loved the artistry of dance and he understood it," the TV host, who split from David in 2018 after seven years of marriage, exclusively told E! News' Francesca Amiker. "He understood the rhythm and to compliment him, he also the need for that intimate relationship and he was super supportive."
photosMeet the Dancing With the Stars Season 32 Cast
Of her bond with Derek, she explained, "There's a big difference between sensual connection and a sexual connection. For me, our time in the ballroom, there was so much chemistry. It was romantic, it was challenge, it was struggle, it was triumph, it was fear. It was all these things that a couple goes through."
In fact, those elements were sometimes even more than what a normal couple goes through.
"You're learning something new, you're facing your fear, you're being judged, you're learning how to communicate," the 52-year-old noted. "You're learning how to find your rhythm together as a couple. So, for me, that was very intimate and at times, very romantic, especially during performances like the Rumba and just the romance of storytelling through our bodies. That's what I meant."
Michael Desmond/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images
Trending Stories
1
Jennie Garth Briefly Addresses Dan Schneider & Costar Amanda Bynes
2
Travis Kelce Reveals His Not-So-Cruel Summer Plans With Taylor Swift
3
Why Paris Hilton and Carter Reum Don't Share Photos of Daughter London
ICYMI, Brooke recently opened up about the intimacy she experienced while she was partnered up with Derek during the show's seventh season.
"I would have actually hoped we would have had a love affair," she admitted during said on the Oct. 8 episode of Cheryl Burke's Sex, Lies and Spray Tans podcast. "You are intertwined with someone's body when you're a dancer. There is no way that I have ever been so connected—besides with a lover or a husband—than I was with Derek."
And while she and Derek, 38, still have an "amazing" relationship, Brooke views him as more of a sibling.
"Of course, I'll always be crushing on Derek, like he's adorable—not quite literally," Brooke told E! of the choreographer, who wed Hayley Erbert in August. "It was nothing."
These two were simply meant to heat up the dance floor together as partners.
"People don't realize what a connection is required, and the audience sees that," she continued. "You can't fake that, so I think Derek and I will always have a relationship and it was just exciting and it was new and scary and romantic."คำพูดจาก สล็อตเว็บตรง
And Brooke's time on DWTS didn't just end with her season seven win, as she returned as cohost of the series two years later until ultimately leaving in 2013.
But now, she's quickstepping into a completely new chapter of her professional life as host of the magic competition television series Penn & Teller: Fool Us—a feat that proved to have been more tricky than she expected.
"I love magic, so every show was wonder and surprise and family fun and emotional and confusing," she shared of the show's tenth seasonคำพูดจาก สล็อตเว็บตรง. "I got to try to figure everything out, which didn't work, but it was so much fun, really unexpected."
For more on the relationships that actually did happen outside of the competition series, keep reading.
Watch E! News weeknights Monday through Thursday at 11 p.m., only on E!.