Cheryl Burke Speaks on Ex-Husband Matthew Lawrence and TLC’s Chili Desire to Have Kids

Cheryl Burke has opened up about her ex-husband’s relationship with a new woman. During Thursday’s episode of The Most Dramatic Podcast Ever With Chris Harrison, the Dancing With the Stars alum expressed support for her ex-husband Matthew Lawrence‘s new relationship with TLC singer Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas, saying that she does “wish him well.” Lawrence and Chilli confirmed their relationship on Instagram in January. The pair confirmed their relationship over three months after Lawrence and Burke finalized their divorce. In February 2022, Burke filed for divorce at a Los Angeles courthouse. The documents obtained by ET list their separation date as Jan. 7, 2022, due to irreconcilable differences. “[Kids are] the game plan. That’s what we’re trying to do,” Lawrence told Entertainment Tonight earlier this month. “My life is in complete bloom right now. I get to spend time with an amazing woman like Chilli. I’ve never gotten to be able to experience that kind of relationship before. She’s really, really special.” Lawrence’s desire to have children is not surprising to Burke.

“He comes from a huge family, and there were definitely conversations, but I always had said, ‘As long as I had to shove my body in a dance costume, me thinking about being pregnant probably isn’t something I can talk about at the moment,’” she said. “But yes, there were discussions about freezing my eggs.” According to Burke, whose divorce from Matthew was finalized in September 2022, “I really, truly hope he can actually have a kid with Chili. I think that’s amazing. I think he’s wanted that.” On Thursday night, Lawrence and Chilli made their red carpet debut at the Verizon +Play House. They attended a dinner party to celebrate Lifetime Black Excellence with their female creatives and talent, which was part of the Lifetime Black Excellence celebrations.

Back in August, the two were first seen together in Hawaii. Lawrence’s rep at the time told E! News they were simply friends meeting up on tour, but things seemed to turn romantic after Lawrence recently finalized his divorce from Burke. Lawrence shared that meeting Chilli in passing sparked his relationship with her. “We were at this thing. We were working. We just said hello in passing, and probably nothing would’ve come of that, but there was this big snowstorm. I had to be back for work, so I was getting them [the airline] to change my flights all around. The only flight I could get was a connecting flight through Atlanta. She lives in Atlanta. So, she was flying on that flight,” he told ET. “So, really, it was the flight, talking, and then afterwards saying, ‘Hey, let’s keep in contact.’ That’s really what made it, and it almost did not happen. I mean, literally, an hour before the flight took off they were like, ‘OK, we got you on this flight. You gotta go.’ So it was just like that kind of thing.”