Cheryl Burke Pays Tribute To Late Father With Throwback Photo: ‘I Miss You So Much Already’
The reason behind Cheryl Burke's absence from the public eye and social media has been revealed. It appears that the dancer recently lost her father.
One Final Goodbye
After several weeks spent noticeably out of the spotlight, the Dancing with the Stars alum took to her Instagram account to announce the sad news. Burke revealed to her followers that her father, Stephen Louis Burke, passed away earlier this month.
She shared a throwback photo of the two together, showing her father kissing her tenderly on the forehead as they embraced each other.
"Dad, if I had one more chance to have you here with me today, I would do things differently. Every day I would tell you how much I love you. I miss you so much already," she captioned the pic.
<Dad, if I had one more chance to have you here with me today, I would do things differently. Every day I would tell you how much I love you. I miss you so much already. Rest In Peace Stephen Louis Burke April 13, 1950 - March 9, 2018A post shared by Cheryl Burke (@cherylburke) on Mar 19, 2018 at 7:27pm PDT
Burke confirmed her father had died on March 9 of this year. Four days later, on March 13, Burke announced on Twitter that she would be taking a break from social media to deal with some personal issues.
Several of Burke's high-profile friends took to social media to express their condolences following her Instagram post.
"Sending you all my love Sugar Plum," wrote Kym Herjavec in the comments section.
"I'm so sorry Cheryl :(," added Catherine Lowe.
A Dancing Legend
Burke is most well-known for competing on ABC's long-running reality series Dancing with the Stars. On its second season, she won alongside 98 Degrees member Drew Lachey. Burke was victorious again with retired football star Emmitt Smith in season 3.
Burke was the first woman to win the show, as well as the first to win the dancing competition twice and consecutively. To date, she has appeared in 19 seasons of the show. Burke also replaced Abbey Lee Miller as the head choreographer on hit reality show Dance Moms.
Burke took her place during the seventh season after the infamous coach walked off set, just weeks before being sentenced to a year in prison following her trial for bankruptcy fraud.
"I'd had a meeting with one of the executives, and I got a call a few days later from my manager saying, 'Abby walked off set, and they'd love for you to take her place.' I was just thrown into it," Burke said toward the end of last year.
She also revealed that young students were terrified of their ex-coach, and pledged to take a softer approach toward them.
