“DWTS” Stars Open Up About Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Vanessa Lachey’s Status After Reported Tension
After Maksim Chmerkovskiy missed this week’s episode of Dancing With the Stars due to “personal issues,” some reports suggested that his absence was actually due to personality conflicts with dance partner Vanessa Lachey. Chmerkovskiy has since apologized to Lachey for missing the show, and now their costars have confirmed that the two are back together in the rehearsal studio.
“Maks is back. We saw him and Vanessa today in the studio,” season 25 pro Lindsay Arnold told People. “They’re excited to be together again.”
In his public apology to Lachey, Chmerkovskiy said that he took “full responsibility” for his absence, and that he and Lachey were “both looking forward to dancing for our fans next week!”
Pretty Little Liars alum and DWTS season 25 celeb Sasha Pieterse said that while the details of what caused Chmerkovskiy to miss the show weren’t clear, the partners were in fact back in action.
“I don’t know what’s going on but all I know is that he had a personal issue, a family issue,” she said. “Alan [Bersten, who filled in for Chmerkovskiy] was great and now [Chmerkovskiy and Lachey] are reunited.”
She continued: “Honestly, they’re awesome. I love them. Nick and Vanessa are awesome; so are Peta and Maks. They’re such a fun partnership.”
No one from DWTS has confirmed the reported tensions, but Lachey did tell Us Weekly that she often takes a back seat to Chmerkovskiy’s coaching on set — and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. “I just know that when I’m on set, he’s my coach and I’m the student, so I listen a lot more and I don’t speak up as much because this is a field I don’t know,” she said. “He’s trained me and taught me so many amazing, wonderful new things, just like any trainer would or teacher would.”
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(Photos via ABC/Craig Sjodin + ABC/Peter McCandless)