‘DWTS’ Alum Cheryl Burke Meets Sister She Never Knew in Wake of Father’s Death

Months after her father died, former Dancing With The Stars pro Cheryl Burke‘s met a half-sister she never knew about.

On Monday, Burke shared a photo with her new sister, who lives in Los Angeles and uses the name “Ina B” on Instagram. Burke, 34, also shared a video from their first meeting.

“Oh my god, I’m meeting my sister for the first time,” Burke said in the clip. “Same dad. Different mom.”

“With my father’s passing came a lot of darkness but there was also a lot of light – I found my sister who I had never known,” Burke wrote in the caption. “We recently met for the first time and it was such a surreal experience to walk into a room to meet and walk out feeling like we had known each other forever. In her I see the same drive and passion that our dad had and there’s clearly a major family resemblance. It may have taken 30 years to find each other, but I am so excited to have another sister for life.”

Her sister also shared the same photo on Instagram, adding, “We only met yesterday, but it felt like we have known each other for a long time. Can’t believe it’s taken 30 years to finally meet my other half.”

According to PEOPLE, Burke has two other siblings, younger half-sister Nicole and older step-sister Mandy.

Burke’s father, Stephen Louis Burke, died on March 9, a month before his 68th birthday. Burke did not share the sad news with her fans until March 19, when she shared a throwback photo of her father kissing her on the head when she was a toddler.

“Dad, if I had one more chance to have you here with me today, I would do things differently,” Burke wrote. “Every day I would tell you how much I love you. I miss you so much already.”

Burke’s parents split when she was only a toddler. Her mother remarried in 1993, and she became close with her stepfather. Burke and her father were estranged for a decade before Stephen had a bad car accident.

“I just wanted to make sure that everything in my life was okay, and I felt like there was that void in my life,” Burke told Bethenny Frankel in 2012. “I have a wonderful stepfather who has been my father, but it was really important for me just to reach out to my dad. Just for me and to like, have some closure if anything really were to happen.”

Burke did have a reason to celebrate in May though. She got engaged to boyfriend, former Boy Meets World actor Matthew Lawrence, on her 34th birthday. The two met in 2006, when Lawrence’s brother Joey Lawrence was a DWTS contestant. The two dated from 2007 to 2008, before reuniting in February 2017.

Burke was a pro dancer on DWTS from season two to season 25. She won the Mirror Ball trophy with Drew Lachey and Emmitt Smith at the end of her first two seasons. In 2017, she replaced Abby Lee Miller on Dance Moms.

Photo credit: Instagram/Cheryl Burke