Sharna Burgess is opening up in a raw and honest moment. The former “Dancing With the Stars” pro revealed on social media that she previously struggled with an eating disorder and a complicated relationship with food, shedding light on challenges she faced throughout her teens and 20s. Burgess has been vocal about how “DWTS” helped change her thinking about body image.
A Complicated Relationship With Food
Burgess posted on her Instagram story asking fans to ask her questions regarding “advice, insight, love, life, etc.” During that Q&A, the former “DWTS” pro dancer opened up about her past struggle with an eating disorder and how she had a complicated relationship with food.
One user hopped onto the Q&A and asked Burgess if she had “ever struggled with eating disorders.” Burgess replied with, “I struggled with binging and restricting mostly. I had a super complicated relationship with food as a teen and my 20s. In my 30s, that changed though.”
Body Dysmorphia For Former ‘Dancing With the Stars’ Pro
This isn’t the first time the former “Dancing With the Stars” pro shared her struggles. In 2021, Burgess talked with Woman’s Day about her struggles with body dysmorphia.
“I had a real struggle with my body because of dance,” Burgess told Woman’s Day. “While dance was something that I needed in my life, it definitely instilled a negative body image. It also started a negative pattern of eating whereby I’d binge one day, and then starve the next. I struggled with that throughout the years. Even in my 20s, I’d look in the mirror and see the 15-year-old that was told every week she needed to lose more weight.”
Part of the healing process for Burgess was joining “Dancing With the Stars” in 2011. She said it was a turning point in changing her perspective on body image and dance.
In the 2021 interview, Burgess said, “I thought, ‘Wow, I’ve been doing this my whole life.’ I started to see something else in the mirror, I started to see a body that had gotten me through some incredibly difficult times, that had created some beautiful moments, that had won championships, that had landed me a life I never ever thought possible.”
The former “DWTS” pro added, “When we get a negative body image as a child, it can take us a very long time to shake it and to see ourselves differently. For me, however, that was my first turning point.”
