‘Dancing With the Stars’: Emma Slater Gives Personal Update Amid Divorce From Sasha Farber

Dancing With the Stars Season 31 got off to a little awkward start for pro dancers Emma Slater and Sasha Farber. The two are separated after nearly four years of marriage. In an update on the situation, Slater admitted she surrounded herself with friends who support her.

“I think it’s been a challenging year for a lot of people,” Slater told Extra after Monday night’s emotional DWTS episode. “For me, I just kind of surround myself with a lot of friends and just try to uplift and do the best I can, and I really do think that that’s the same for almost everybody.”

Slater is dancing with actor Trevor Donovan, while Farber was paired with Selma Blair. During Monday night’s episode, Blair announced that she had to leave the competition for medical reasons. Farmer and Blair still performed a waltz to “What the World Needs Now Is Love,” which earned them a perfect score from the judges.

“It was such an honor for us to get to know Selma, and now she’s a part of our lives. I think everybody can safely say that she’s one of the brightest lights in the ballroom,” Slater said of Blair. “She has just this energy and you feel instantly connected to her because she’s able to connect with everybody and she wants to.”

Slater added that it was “an honor to watch” Blair continue to compete as she lives with multiple sclerosis. “I just commend her so much for pushing herself and not knowing what she was going to get out of it, but knowing that she wanted to do that,” Slater said. “I just think it’s just so courageous and she was stunning and such an inspiration.”

News that Farber, 38, and Slater, 33, were calling it quits surfaced in late August. “They’ve been apart for many months now,” a source told Us Weekly at the time. “They both have not been wearing their wedding rings and are each leading a single life.”

Slater and Farber started dating in 2011 and originally split in 2014. They soon reunited and Farber famously proposed in 2016 during a DWTS episode. They married in March 2018, with several members of the DWTS family in attendance. Slater joined DWTS in 2012 and won the Mirror Ball trophy in 2017 with former NFL player Rashad Jennings. Farber also joined in 2012 and has yet to win a championship, although he has finished third twice. DWTS streams Mondays and Tuesdays on Disney+ at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.