Cheryl Burke is addressing the arrest of Dancing with the Stars pro Artem Chigvintsev on suspicion of domestic violence.
In the August 30 episode of her podcast Sex, Lies and Spray Tans, Burke expressed her shock, saying, “I hesitate to smile right now because of the current news… which I am in complete shock about.”
She continued by sharing her personal connection with Chigvintsev, noting, “We used to live together in my family’s home in the Bay Area. It’s so shocking. I get kind of emotional. My heart goes out to everyone involved.”
“It’s just really hard for me because he was — he’s my family,” Burke added. “I don’t know what to say here other than I hope everybody’s okay.”
On the morning of Thursday, August 29, in Napa, California, Chigvintsev was arrested on charges of corporal injury to a spouse — presumably his wife, Nikki Garcia, although this has not been confirmed.
.He was released later that day on $25,000 bail, and Garcia’s representative has since issued a statement requesting privacy.
“This is a private matter, and Nikki asks for privacy for her and her family at this time,” the statement read.
His arrest occurred just two days after the couple celebrated their second wedding anniversary, sharing sweet tribute posts on Instagram.
Garcia posted a video montage of their relationship, partially captioning it with lyrics from Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love.”
“This song is our love story,” she wrote. “I’ll never forget where I was when I asked Jesus about Artem. Having a conversation with He & God.
How my feelings felt too soon. It all felt too fast. And then this song came on. And that’s when I knew that I was falling in love with him and that it was all meant to be.”
“Happy Anniversary @theartemc I love you! ,” she concluded in the caption.
Chigvintsev also posted, writing, “Happy anniversary my love, can’t see my life without you. You are my everything.”
The couple first met as partners on DWTS in 2017, though Garcia was engaged to John Cena at the time. They reconnected a year later after Garcia’s breakup with Cena.
In 2020, they welcomed their son Matteo and married in Paris in 2022.
Despite their relationship’s ups and downs, with Garcia admitting that being apart while she was a judge for AGT: Extreme was challenging, she also said that after going through a “rocky” period, the two were “stronger than ever,” thanks to “sexy FaceTimes.”
