Former 'DWTS' Pro Lacey Schwimmer Recalls 'Crying' Over Co-Stars' Comments About Her Weight
Lacey Schwimmer
Lacey Schwimmer is reflecting on her time as a Dancing with the Stars pro—and she's not holding back about being body-shamed while on the competition show.
During an interview on Cheryl Burke's Sex, Lies and Spray Tans podcast, Schwimmer shared her thoughts about Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Louis van Amstel's 2008 comments about her weight.
"Oh my God, it ruined me," Schwimmer told Burke. "I remember crying and crying and crying."
Burke then quoted what Chmerkovskiy told TV Guide about her and Schwimmer: "When I saw these women this season, I said, 'Guys, you know the camera adds 10 pounds. You have to do something about this.'"
Meanwhile, van Amstel chimed in with his thoughts about his female co-workers' bodies.
"People look at this show to be inspired and think, 'If I just work hard enough, I can look like that'... They watch someone who's dancing her butt off and she's still heavy, they can be discouraged," he said. "You have to take responsibility."
The kicker? Schwimmer said she weighed 138 pounds and wore size 6 clothing.
Schwimmer clarified that "it's not Maks' or Louis' fault," explaining their comments were a result of a prevailing way of thinking among professional dancers at the time.
"The dance community prior to 10 years, I would say, has been very backwards in that thinking that a healthy body is a very thin one where you can see the bones in their chest or the back muscles, you can see every tendon," she explained. "And, to me, that is not healthy. That is just awful. It is not realistic, it is not sustainable."
Still, Schwimmer was only 19 when she joined DWTS as a pro dancer (before exiting the show in season 13)—and experiencing public humiliation at the hands of "people that I've looked up to" was a hard pill to swallow.
"It literally broke my spirit," she said.
Schwimmer added: "No one should ever, ever discredit somebody based off of their appearance," she shared. "I don't care if you're skinny, fat, whatever. Ugly face, busted teeth—I don't care what you look like. It has nothing to do with your talent or ability of what you are hired to do."
