Brooke Burke was scared to post a nearly nude photo of herself — but she did anyway. The Dancing With the Stars alum and former host told HollywoodLife.com that she wanted to “celebrate and own my sensuality at my age.”
Back in March, the 47-year-old mom of four shared a stripped-down photo of herself posing in just leg warmers and a pink crop top, showing off her toned muscles and natural confidence.
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“I was so scared to post that pic,” she told HollywoodLife. “It was a female curated shoot, and I really decided to just be brave and do it and celebrate women and own my sensuality at my age.”
Her reasoning behind the trepidation was “because I didn’t know if I would have been crushed fo fit or if I would have been celebrated,” she said. But in the end, she said it was worth it.
“I got so much positive feedback from women that were so strong and so supportive and I had people reach out to me to say ‘thank you for posting that,’” she said. “And I was like, ‘Yes you can.’ You really can, at any time that you decide to really make a change in yourself. It was very empowering. I had no idea that that was going to happen, but I’m glad I did it.”
The former Celebrity Apprentice contestant, who won Season 7 of DWTS with pro Derek Hough and hosted next to Tom Bergeron from Seasons 10 to 17, said that she didn’t do the shoot to be provocative.
“It really wasn’t about a sexy pic, for me. It was about muscle tone, and the ability to sculpt my body, and I thought long and hard honestly, about what message am I really putting out there to women,” she said. “I’m raising three daughters and what is this about and then I thought: ‘You know what I worked my ass off for my body’ and admitted this inside and it was an absolute celebration.”
Burke has three daughters — Neriah Fisher, 19; Sierra Sky Fisher, 17; Heaven Rain Charvet, 12 — and one son, 11-year-old Shaya Charvet. As far as how her kids took the stripped-down photo, she said, “You know what’s really interesting? Is my daughters were okay and one of my daughters and I had a really deep conversation about it because it was a little bit hard for her, you [know]. I had to just say to her, ‘I get to decide what I do and that this is about empowering women, and it wasn’t about posting something that is cheeky. That it was about much more than that.”
“I had to explain to her why and that’s one thing that I really take seriously with my daughters is open dialogue. I respect her opinion and her feelings just as I expect her to respect mine. We had that conversation and so for me moments that encourage that kind of dialogue matters,” she added.
