Gianna De Laurentiis is discovering the ins and outs of the ballroom as she makes her debut. The celebrity chef, now competing on Season 35 of “Dancing with the Stars” alongside pro partner Alan Bersten, candidly admitted the first few days were harder than she expected.
De Laurentiis says her body was the first thing to protest. “Who knew that my quad muscles were so weak?” She said. She recalled that on her first day of rehearsal, a security guard walking her to her car offered to help her down the stairs, worried she may fall. She told the security guard, “I didn’t realize how much pain I’m in.”
Though she says she has “fed him quite a bit,” De Laurentiis said Bersten wasn’t taking it easy on her. “We’ve had a few breakthroughs. I think I had a couple of days that were really, really rough, which I’m sure people will see in the package. But I also simultaneously dropped my daughter off at college, so I think I was going through a few emotions.”
Though Bersten has not been gentle, he has been understanding. He advised her to start thinking of their routine like “a recipe but in a different language.” Writing down the steps to their routine to go over them has helped De Laurentiis break through.
“Honestly, it’s so encouraging to see that she went home on a day off and practiced for hours,” Bersten tells EW. “Because she cares. And, to me, that’s all you can ask for in a partnership: is somebody who wants to be there, who wants to get better, and Giada’s doing that. To see the growth, it really is inspiring.”
Ten Years of Saying No to ‘DWTS’
De Laurentiis’ ballroom debut comes after roughly a decade of turning the show down. She has said ‘DWTS’ approached her about ten times over the years, and she has declined every time. De Laurentiis admitted that she declined because she had watched friends go through the process. She understood how physically demanding it would be.
“That’s probably why I’ve said no over all these years, because I knew what she was going through, but she loved it,” De Laurentiis said, referencing conversations with friends who have competed before her. “All my friends who have done it in the past have all said the same thing: it is an unbelievable experience, but it’s a lot on your body, so be prepared.”
What finally changed her mind this time was her 18-year-old daughter, Jade. She had just left home to start college while De Laurentiis began rehearsals. “I think this time I said yes because my daughter basically forced me to say yes,” she admitted, framing the decision as a way to embark on her own new chapter alongside her daughter’s. She said Jade has encouraged her every step of the way, even talking her out of backing out at the last minute right before drop-off.
‘A Lot Rougher than I Thought it Would Be’
Beyond the physical toll, De Laurentiis says the mental exhaustion caught her off guard just as much. “What I didn’t realize beside the body is the mind, like how tired mentally I would be from learning something so foreign that, literally, I would go home and just want to veg out,” she explained. “It was kind of crazy, and it’s so out of who I am. I’m always go, go, go no matter what. But with this, it’s like it just made my brain like mush. I couldn’t think straight.”
Asked during a “Good Morning America’ segment whether dancing was tougher than cooking in front of a room full of cash, De Laurentiis didn’t hesitate: “a lot rougher than I thought it would be.”
