Jenna Dewan Looks Forward to ‘DWTS’ Amid Drama
Jenna Dewan Looks Forward to ‘DWTS’ Amid Drama
Alyssa NorwinMon, October 19, 2026 at 1:44 PM UTC
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JENNA DEWAN, VALENTIN CHMERKOVSKIY - Disney/Eric McCandlessThe Season 35 contestant is dancing with a new partner this week after Val Chmerkovskiy's suspension.
While Val Chmerkovskiy has been at the center of controversy this week, his Dancing With the Stars partner, Jenna Dewan, has kept quiet … until now. Dewan took to Instagram to post about the show’s upcoming Dedication Night on Tuesday, October 20. She will be dancing with Alan Bersten amid Chmerkovskiy’s suspension.
Dewan is dedicating her dance to her mother, Nancy Bursch, and paid tribute to her in the post. “I’ve been thinking so much on all the things my mom has taught me throughout my life,” she wrote. “Not just in what she’s said, but in the way she’s lived and the example she’s always been for me. To lead with kindness. To give people grace. To be strong without losing your softness. To keep your heart open, even when life doesn’t go quite the way you imagined.”
She continued, “My mom has always been my biggest cheerleader. The one who believed in me before I even knew what was possible for myself. Who encouraged me to dream big, to keep going, and most importantly, to never lose sight of who I am along the way. And now, all these years and so many chapters of life later, I get to dedicate a dance to her this Tuesday.”
Dewan acknowledged that her mother is the person who “first encouraged [her] love of dance” as a child. “As life goes on, the more I realize that some of the greatest gifts our parents give us aren’t things at all,” she concluded. “They’re the values we carry, the love we pass on, and the way we choose to show up in this world. And I hope more than anything that I make her proud! Not necessarily through what i do in life, but in the person I am and the way I move through life.”
The Rookie star notably did not reference the drama surrounding her original dance partner, which began after the October 13 live show. Carrie Ann Inaba criticized Chmerkovskiy’s wife Jenna Johnson‘s choreography, and Chmerkovskiy used social media to stick up for her. However, he took it too far when he wrote on his TikTok Story, “You almost saw Fresh Prince enter the ballroom last night,” an apparent reference to when The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air star Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars.
Chmerkovskiy publicly apologized to Inaba after she posted about his remarks on Instagram and wondered, “So this is what we are doing now?” However, fans were still outraged by his apparent insinuation that he wanted to slap the judge, and on October 17, it was confirmed that Chmerkovskiy would not be dancing with Dewan on Dedication Night, with Bersten stepping in instead.
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Disney/Eric McCandless
“Val’s social media post was inappropriate and does not reflect the values or standards expected of anyone connected with the show,” a statement from BBC Studios, DWTS‘ production company, said. “As a result, he will not participate in next week’s show.”
After his suspension was announced, Chmerkovskiy issued another statement supporting the decision. “In a moment where my instinct was to defend my wife, I made a poor decision to reference a meme to ‘keep my wife’s name’ out of the conversation, without stopping to think through what else that reference could imply, which was genuinely never my intention,” the pro dancer explained. “Carrie Ann certainly didn’t deserve to get caught in the middle of my bad judgment, and I hate that she was.”
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He added, “The last thing I want is to become a distraction from an important week or from the incredible work my dance partner Jenna Dewan is putting in. Please send Carrie Ann, Jenna, and the whole DWTS family lots of love during Dedication Night. I’ll be watching and cheering everyone on!!””
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Source: “AOL Entertainment”
