John Schneider Reveals Real Reason He Agreed to ‘Dancing With the Stars’

When John Schneider agreed to do Dancing With the Stars, many thought it was to earn a paycheck. The Dukes of Hazzard alum was deep into a highly-publicized battle with his ex-wife, Elvira “Elly” Schneider over spousal support, which resulted in him already spending a brief amount of time in jail.

Schneider, who initially requested more jail time instead of paying his former spouse money he insists he doesn’t have, could have easily agreed to join DWTS because of the opportunity to earn a lot of money in a relatively short amount of time, but he insists that isn’t the case at all.

“I agreed to do this so I could have people thinking about me as a musician, not as, ‘Here’s the guy who drove an orange car,’” Schneider told Parade. “I accepted it because I’m headed deep back into music again. You’ll notice that every time [host] Tom [Bergeron] introduces me, that he says country music singer.

“I actually had a bunch of Top 10 and four No. 1 songs back in the ’80s,” he continued. “I’ve been doing that again and releasing a new single every Tuesday. So, really, that was my reason for doing this. Of course, it’s a great experience. I had no idea how hard it was going to be, but I wanted people to start thinking about me along the lines of music and being storyteller rather than just the guy that drove the orange car.”

Perhaps surprisingly, the 58-year-old didn’t even consider the income ramifications when he signed on, and still doesn’t know how much money he is making every week.

“I’m enjoying Dancing With the Stars, but I didn’t do it as a payday because I owe my soul to the company store,” Schneider maintained. “It doesn’t matter what I do, I get the same salary anyway, so I don’t even know what Dancing With the Stars pays, and I don’t want to know. I believe in cramming as much experience and as many different things into your life to round you out as you possibly can.”

“This one certainly is a remarkable journey that I had no concept of, but now I look at it, and it’s the only thing that I can think of where you learn an entirely new skill, because each dance is an entirely new skill,” he added.

Schneider is paired with professional dancer Emma Slater. He previously stated that he hopes the show will earn him the respect of his adult children, Leah, Chasen and Karis, who are currently not speaking to him.

Dancing With the Stars airs on Monday and Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

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