Cheryl Burke Shares Her Advice for Nikki Garcia After Artem Chigvintsev's 'Very Unfortunate' Arrest (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

From left: Nikki Garcia, Artem Chigvintsev and Cheryl Burke.Photo:Raymond Hall/GC Images; Kelsey McNeal/ABC/Getty; Frazer Harrison/Getty

Raymond Hall/GC Images; Kelsey McNeal/ABC/Getty; Frazer Harrison/Getty

Cheryl Burkeis offeringNikki Garciasome advice followingArtem Chigvintsev’s arrest last month.

The formerDWTSpro wasarrested on a felony charge of corporal injury to spousein Napa Valley on Aug. 29, PEOPLE confirmed at the time. And while it was never officially stated, Garcia was presumed to be the spouse involved.

Now, Burke, 40, tells PEOPLE that she was initially caught off guard when giving her reaction to the incident on her podcast,Sex, Lies and Spray Tans,because the news broke as she was recording.

“Doing [the segment] Headlines and Hot Topics about my friends is hard, I’m not even going to deny it,” she admits. “It is my job and I will do it, but I don’t necessarily feel comfortable doing it because I know that feeling when you’re being talked about, and it’s not fun.”

From left: Cheryl Burke and Artem Chigvintsev.getty (2)

getty (2)

Over the past few weeks, Burke says she has had time to think about the situation more clearly. While sharing that her “heart goes out to” everyone involved, the podcast host says there is one person who she has on her mind most.

“This is just a really unfortunate situation, and I just hope everybody’s okay,” she says. “I hope that Nikki and Artem are protecting their heart, and I hope that, more importantly, their son is okay.”

From left: Nikki Garcia, Artem Chigvintsev, Cheryl Burke and Terrell Owens on “Dancing with the Stars”.Eric McCandless / Disney General Entertainment Content/Getty

Eric McCandless / Disney General Entertainment Content/Getty

“I just send them all so much love,” she continues. “And I hope that they take the time that they need to heal, even if that means putting your career on hold for a little bit.”

“It’s not easy, but I believe if you just give the time that you need to grieve, we all grieve differently, there’s no one way that someone should experience grief, but also, it’s just important to choose you and to protect you,” she explains. “Because I think especially in society today, we tend just to take care of everyone else’s needs or what we think people want from us without really sitting with ourselves and just figuring that out, even if it doesn’t necessarily mean you agree with society today.”

As for being single, Burke says “I love it now, but it took a while to get here,” adding that she and Lawrence didn’t have a child together, which makes things more complicated.

Nikki Garcia and Artem Chigvintsev attend “Twin Love” - Cocktails And Bites With Hosts Nikki & Brie Garcia at Soho House on November 16, 2023 in West Hollywood, California.Anna Webber/Getty

Anna Webber/Getty

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On an Aug. 30episodeof her podcast, which was released just one day after Chigvintsev’s arrest, Burke noted that she grew up with the professional dancer and evencalled him “my family”.

“I hesitate to smile right now because of the current news…which I am in complete shock about,” she said. “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,” she said. “I don’t know what to say here other than I hope everybody’s okay.”

source: people.com