Cheryl Burke Opens up About Emotional Reunion With Unknown Sister

Former Dancing With The Stars pro Cheryl Burke opened up about her emotional meeting with a sister she never knew she had in a new Entertainment Tonight interview.

Earlier this month, Burke shared a selfie and video with her half-sister Ina after they met for the first time in 30 years. The meeting happened four months after their father, Stephen Louis Burke, died.

In her interview with ET, Burke said the half-siblings met as children, but grew up hundreds of miles apart in California.

“There are pictures of us holding each other… but I don’t remember any of it,” Burke, 34, said.

Ina first reached out to Burke a few years ago when Burke was still on DWTS to tell her that their father was in an accident. Burke never responded though.

“That was at the height of Dancing With the Stars, and so many people were like, ‘Hey, I’m your uncle,’ or ‘I’m your cousin or aunt.’ So you just never really know,” she explained.

Burke’s parents divorced when she was young, and Stephen Burke went on to have a family with Ina’s mother. Burke also has a younger half-sister, Nicole, and an older step-sister, Mandy.

After Burke’s father died in March, Ina reached out again. At that point, Burke finally responded. After several texts back and forth, the two agreed to meet in Los Angeles.

“The night before, I didn’t sleep. I think we were both in shock,” Burke said of their first meeting. “I don’t think we stopped taking selfies for, like, an hour. We were just comparing [our similarities]. She goes, ‘Is my nose like yours?’ It is crazy how much we look alike and how much we sound alike.”

Burke believes their father always wanted them to have a relationship, and the two continue to hang out. They hung out again on July 20 and were interviewed for Good Morning America together.

“I’ve taken Ina in. Like, that she’s my sister,” Burke said on GMA. “I talk to her as much as my other sisters now. You know, it’s a constant conversation, communication.”

Burke’s reunion with her sister is not the only life-changing moment for Burke this year. In May, actor Matthew Lawrence proposed, using the same diamond Burke’s father gave her mother. Burke said they are planning for a summer wedding next year. Ina went to Burke and Lawrence’s engagement party last weekend.

“This year has been an emotional roller coaster to say the least, but getting to share this night with the people I love most reminded me of how important it is to celebrate the joy in our lives,” Burke wrote on Instagram. “It was perfect.”

Photo credit: Instagram/Cheryl Burke