Brooke Burke recently opened up about her unexpected departure from hosting "Dancing with the Stars" in 2014, describing the experience as both shocking and disappointing.
During an interview on "Getting Grilled with Curtis Stone," Burke, 52, was asked if she felt ready to leave the popular ABC dance competition. She responded candidly, saying, “I probably had enough, but then when you leave something and you think you've had enough, you kind of, in hindsight, look back and want a little bit more.”
Burke elaborated, “As a host, when you're on a live show, it was a long time, and I think I was ready to do other things. But I think it's shocking when there's a change in our business, just to humanize it, to be honest, to be vulnerable. I think it was really disappointing. I wasn't expecting it.”
Burke, who won the mirrorball trophy with partner Derek Hough in season 7, took over co-hosting duties from Samantha Harris in season 10. Her departure was announced ahead of season 18.
Reflecting on her exit, Burke told Stone, “You can’t ever have a plan in Hollywood. Things change like that for a variety of reasons. It was for sure a time for a number of reasons on both sides… I think that kind of change is always a bummer.”
In a 2014 blog post on Modern Mom, Burke detailed how she found out about her dismissal. “The only shocking thing about it, for me, was the way in which it all went down,” she wrote. “Finding out that I would not be returning to the ballroom just weeks before the premiere was quite a shake-up. I would have appreciated a heads-up and the courtesy of communication, but we are not always privileged to get that in the workplace.”
Burke also shared how she broke the news to her children, who were in the car when she received the call. “My son shouted, ‘You got fired Mommy?!’” she recalled. “I tried to explain the difference between being fired and being let go. Then he yelled, ‘You quit!’ I laughed at the fine line in it all. Then I did my very best to describe to my children the reality of change and the need to maneuver through it with grace.”
Despite the abrupt end to her hosting tenure, Burke has continued to thrive in her career, adapting to change with the resilience she encourages in her children.
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