Lacey Schwimmer, Maksim Chmerkovskiy. Getty Images (2)
Lacey Schwimmer is getting candid a few time when Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Louis van Amstel criticized her weight whereas on Dancing With the Stars.
“When I’m 19 years old and I’m excited to do this brand new venture, and be celebrated for something I’ve worked my whole life doing, to hear people I’ve looked up to … it literally broke my spirit,” she shared throughout a Monday, October 30, episode of Cheryl Burke’s “Sex, Lies, and Spray Tans” podcast. “Oh, my God, it ruined me. I remember crying and crying and crying.”
In October 2008, Chmerkovskiy, 43, and van Amstel, 51, slammed Schwimmer, 35, and Burke, 39, for his or her our bodies whereas chatting with TV Guide.
“When I first saw these women this season, I said, ‘Guys, you know the camera adds 10 pounds,’” Chmerkovskiy stated on the time. “‘You have to do something about this.’”
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Van Amstel, in the meantime, informed the outlet: “[People] look at this show to be inspired and think, ‘If I just work hard enough, I can look like that. If they watch someone who’s dancing her butt off and she’s still heavy, they can be discouraged. You have to take that responsibility.”
At the time, Schwimmer responded to the feedback on Access Hollywood, saying she was “confident and happy” with the best way she regarded. But behind the scenes, Schwimmer was “struggling with this issue.”
“From that, it has definitely messed up everything,” she informed Burke, clarifying that she doesn’t fault Chmerkovskiy or van Amstel for his or her feedback. “Of course, ever since that first quote from Maks and Louis, that let everyone else have an opinion of what I looked like.”
Van Amstel and Chmerkovskiy’s interview wasn’t the one event Schwimmer — who appeared off and on from seasons 7 by means of 13 — obtained criticism for her weight whereas on DWTS. She informed Burke {that a} producer approached her after a becoming and stated she wanted to put on fishnets for a “smoother look” on digital camera.
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“I thought maybe everyone was going through this, I thought that this was just what the show did,” she recalled of the incident, noting that it occurred once more throughout “multiple” seasons. “Looking back, that body that I had was phenomenal.”
Schwimmer, who was 19 when she first appeared on DWTS, stated the present contributed to her unfavourable notion of her physique.
“In a weird way, I do feel, and this is my personal opinion, that Dancing With the Stars breeds body image issues for women,” she stated. “We are forced to be put in bras and panties with a couple pieces of fringe on the butt. And just, you’re standing next to these girls who are naturally skinny and you have to take extreme measures.”
She continued: “There were times where I would eat, like, 500 calories a day and I’d be dancing all day and I’d be on Red Bull. And just, like, trying to go and go and go.”
Schwimmer additionally revealed that she “abused” weight loss supplements, explaining she would have an alarm set on her telephone “until I could take my next one.”
“I do find, and hear me out again, this is my personal opinion, the thinner you are, the more attention you end up getting on that show,” Schwimmer stated.
When Schwimmer dropped from a dimension 6 to a dimension 2 and weighed 115 lbs, she stated she began showing in photograph shoots and particular dances related to DWTS.
“So, you start getting this love, and it’s this weird backwards way of feeling successful for literally harming yourself,” she stated.
Us Weekly has reached out to ABC for remark.
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