Dancing With the Stars pro Cheryl Burke and actor Matthew Lawrence are in the middle of a divorce, but the Boy Meets World alum has fans wondering if he’s already moved on. The actor was recently spotted with TLC singer Rozonda “Chilli” Thompson while vacationing in Hawaii. The two stars took a swim in the Hawaiin blue waters before being spotted grabbing a bite on the beach together. But Chilli’s rep says the two are simply friends. “TLC had a show in Hawaii,” a rep for Chilli told E! News. “They’ve been touring all summer and are heading to Australia soon. Matthew and Chilli are friends and were taking a moment to get some sun after the show. They weren’t by themselves there was a group with them.”
Up until the split, Burke was dropping gems about the personal healing journey she’s been on since parting from her longtime friend and partner. “Taking a few days alone to focus inward, reflect and really try to feel my feelings – with my partner in crime of course,” she wrote on Instagram a month after her divorce was made public. In the post, Burke was at the Fairmont Grand Del Mar in San Diego, ironically at the same place she and Lawrence tied the knot in May 2019. She’s also since debuted a new look by cutting her hair.
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It’s not difficult to grasp how one may choose to look inward after a breakup. Their relationship was a long one, having first began dating in 2007 before reconnecting again in 2017. But even with so much time between them, they picked right up where they left off. Within months of getting back together, they were engaged.
In a 2020 YouTube video, Burke spoke on her journey to finding the one. She says she knew Lawrence was her person when she learned to love herself and stop accepting her “pattern of dating abusive men.”
“I honestly think that the first relationship I ever had that did not fit this abusive pattern was when my now-husband Matt and I dated the first time around back in 2007,” she said in the video. “I honestly think at the time when we first dated, I didn’t clearly love myself enough to think that I deserved to be with someone who was actually nice to me. And I was just wrapped up in this new get-out-of-jail-free card, L.A.-party lifestyle, whereas he had already kind of been there and done that, since he grew up in this industry.”
Lawrence credited their friendship being the foundation of their relationship as why they were able to get it right the second time around. Unfortunately, they are not living happily ever after and there are several reasons why their marriage didn’t last, per sources. But here’s a look back at their love story.
How they met
The pair met in 2006 when Matthew’s brother, Joey Lawrence, was competing on Dancing With the Stars. They began dating shortly after.
Breakups
Just a year after they began dating in 2007, they called it quits. Their careers would take them in different directions.
The original ‘Bennifer’
Before Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck got back together 18 years after their breakup, Burke and Lawrence gave their love another shot. After 10 years apart, they reconnected. “I’ve never seen Cheryl so happy and so at peace,” a source told Us Weekly of their new relationship. “Matt is a wonderful presence in her life, and I can see this being it for her.”
The engagement
Within a year of rekindling their romance, the pair got engaged in May 2018. He popped the question while on vacation in Laguna Beach, California.
The wedding
After such a long courtship, their fairytale came to a head in may 2019. They tied the knot in May 2019 at the Fairmont Grand Del Mar in San Diego.
Why they split
The split was confirmed when Burke’s divorce papers surfaced in Feb. 2022. She listed her date of separation as Jan. 7. According to a source, the divorce was due to disagreements over starting a family. A source told Us Weekly in Mar. 2022: “Cheryl’s taking this time to focus on next steps and focus on her mental health.”
