‘Dancing With the Stars’: Maks Chmerkovskiy’s Father’s Day Post Raises Eyebrows

Former Dancing With the Stars (DWTS) professional Maksim Chmerkovskiy is receiving some backlash because of a post he made on Father’s Day about his wife, DWTS professional dancer Peta Murgatroyd. A video posted by Chmerkovskiy on Instagram shows the ballroom dancer calling his wife a “MILF” – a term popularized by the film American Pie, which stands for “mom I’d like to f–.”

“The milf, the child and the luckiest guy on earth. #bestfathersdayever,” Chmerkovskiy wrote as the post’s caption. He filmed Murgatroyd and their son Shai playing on a Malibu beach from the pier and said as he shot, “MILFing under the blue umbrella. The child. The surf. The luckiest.”

Some fans were in disbelief that he would say that about his wife. One wrote, “Love you and your fam, Max, but Milf is considered a derogatory expression in the USA.” Most of his fans simply wished him and his family a happy Father’s Day. However, some messages ranged from users saying, “Low class to call her that. Just shows what kind of guy he is,” to “Yes Maks you scored bro!”

Some voiced their displeasure overChmerkovskiy using the acronym. Another fan responded, “What an inappropriate way to describe such a beautifully elegant woman,” to which a fan replied, “Hardly, and it’s a joke. He has called her that before, and she laughs about it. Lighten up.” 

The dancer continued to get hammered with comments like, “Milf… how vulgar!!! Have respect!! This is a disrespectful term anywhere. Do you speak this way about your wife… or other women… please don’t teach you son or future children that this is how to speak about any woman. I didn’t think you were this type of male…my mistake.” However, he still had his defenders, such as a fan who replied, “His wife didn’t mind as he called her that before in previous post. So his wife don’t mind it. Go be mad about something else, there is a war going on.”

Chmerkovskiy andMurgatroyd’s relationship dates back long before DWTS. They first met while performing in Burn the Floor on Broadway in 2009. Chmerkovskiy joined DWTS in 2006 as a pro dancer, while Murgatroyd joined in 2011, beginning as a troupe dancer in season 12 before being promoted to the pro cast the following season.

They were platonic during their show run but reconnected on the hit ABC reality competition in 2011 and began a romance. Following a short breakup in 2013, Chmerkovskiy and Murgatroyd began dating again in 2014. In 2015, Chmerkovskiy and Murgatroyd got engaged during a tour of DWTS, during which he told Murgatroyd, “I’m in love with you, and I will be in love with you for the rest of my life.”

The couple welcomed a son, Shai Aleksander, on Jan. 4, 2017, and secretly wed on the following June 8, during a small ceremony at a New York City town hall. They didn’t reveal the secret until their one-year anniversary in August 2017. On July 8, 2017, the two re-married at Oheka Castle in Long Island, New York. Chmerkovskiy’s brother and fellow DWTS dancer, Val Chmerkovskiy, served as best man. Also attending the wedding ceremony were Tony Dovolani, Rumer Willis, Sharna Burgess, Jenna Johnson, Nyle DiMarco, and Candace Cameron Bure.