Cheryl Burke and Matthew Lawrence almost didn’t end up together. After briefly dating in 2007, their relationship ended after only one year.
Actor Mathew Lawrence and his girlfriend Cheryl Burke at the 2007 Teen Choice Awards at the Gibson Amphitheater on August 26, 2007, in Universal City, California (Credit: Nikki Nelson/ WENN)
Ten years later, an emoji-filled text sent to Lawrence from Burke (but actually by her sister, Nicole) re-sparked their romance, and today they are happily married.
To learn more about their love story and the backgrounds of both Burke and Lawrence, read on.
Who is Cheryl Burke?
You may know Cheryl Burke, age 37, from ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars.” This ABC show pairs a professional dancer with a celebrity or athlete, and they compete together to see who will be the last team standing.
Professional dancer Cheryl Burke arrives at Disney Channel’s “The Cheetah Girls: One World” Los Angeles Premiere held at El Capitan Theatre on August 12, 2008, in Hollywood, California (Credit: Adriana M. Barraza / WENN)
She was the first female professional to win the show and the first professional to win twice and consecutively. In 2017, Burke replaced Abby Lee Miller, who walked off the show during season 7 of “Dance Moms.”
Burke was a coach for a few episodes on the show. She also has a podcast with AJ McLean of the Backstreet Boys called “Pretty Messed Up.”
Her net worth is estimated to be around $1 million. She stands at 5’ 4” (163 cm) and is of Filipino, Irish and Russian descent.
Cheryl Burke arrives for Dancing With the Stars (DWTS) rehearsals in Los Angeles on September 7, 2021 (Credit: MEGA / WENN)
She was born in San Francisco, California, and began dancing at age 4 when she was enrolled in her first dance class. Two of Burke’s former boyfriends include “Cougar Town” actor Josh Hopkins and restaurateur, JT Torregiani.
Who is Matthew Lawrence?
Matthew Lawrence, age 41, is an actor and musician known for his childhood roles in “Mrs. Doubtfire” and “Boy Meets World.” He was born in Pennsylvania and is of English, Italian and Scottish descent.
He is 5’ 8” (173 cm) and has an estimated net worth of $5 million. Lawrence has two brothers, Andrew and Joey, who also work in entertainment.
Brothers Matthew Lawrence, Andrew James Lawrence, and Joey Lawrence at the premiere of the Disney Channel Original Movies Los Angeles premiere of “Tiger Cruise” held on July 27, 2004, at the Directors Guild of America, in Hollywood, California (Credit: WENN)
Since his childhood roles, Lawrence has continued to act and sing throughout his career. He was in “The Hot Chick” and recently “The Dead of Night.”
Before marrying Burke, Lawrence dated and was engaged to “Passions” actress Heidi Mueller, and also dated Australian actress, Laura New.
How did Cheryl Burke and Matthew Lawrence meet?
Cheryl Burke has a YouTube channel where she explains the story of how she and Matthew Lawrence met.
The timeline was during Season 3 of “Dancing with the Stars” and her second season of dancing with former NFL football star, Emmitt Smith. Joey Lawrence was a guest dancer on the season and he was partnered with professional dancer, Edyta Sliwinska.
Matthew Lawrence and Cheryl Burke were introduced in 2007 when his brother older brother Joey Lawrence competed on Dancing With the Stars (Credit: WENN)
“We used to go on tour, and we used to be treated like rock stars back in the day,” says Burke.
She went on, “I met Joey’s little brother in between a sweaty show…I think we were doing a Friends and Family Show in Los Angeles at the Staples Center…don’t quote me. I knew he [Joey Lawrence] had brothers, but I didn’t know that one of the brothers was the boy from ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’ and ‘Boy Meets World’.”
Burke goes on to say that she loved both the movie and the tv show starring her now-husband.
She continued, “I was a mess one night after the show because I was sweating…I have spray tan dripping down…crowds of dancers were crowding around this bus, and it was Joey and his little brother Matt.”
Burke shares that Joey remembers, “There was this little girl [Burke] jumping up, trying to see who the crowd was surrounding.”
“He said that I was cute when I basically probably looked like a hot mess. I’m a sweater, so I sweat. I had my short little bob, no heels, and spray tan galore. If he fell in love then, I knew it was a match made in tan heaven,” says Burke.
Cheryl Burke and Mathew Lawrence on a dinner date at STK restaurant in West Hollywood on May 13, 2008 (Credit: WENN)
“We were not together during that whole period; it was like 12 years ago that that happened. We dated for a little less than a year, I was going through my phase of partying and drinking…and we didn’t even see each other or run into each other at a Ralph’s…for a whole decade,” says Burke.
The two lived in the same part of town at the time, so not running into each other at their common grocery store was odd.
Nicole Wolf reignites the spark between Burke and Lawrence
Burke admits, “I don’t remember much from the first part of our relationship. Cut to, 10 years pass, my sister [Nicole] steals my phone, she texts Matt emojis only, as millennials do, and he responds right away. I thought for sure he was married, and I thought for sure this was going to be a waste of my time.”
Actress Nicole Wolf (L) is the younger half-sister of Cheryl Burke (Credit: FayesVision / WENN)
Burke explains that her sister, Nicole, loved Matt from the beginning, and so did her whole family. She says she didn’t bring home a lot of boyfriends, but out of the ones that met her family, Matt was their favorite.
Burke and Lawrence met up that night to go to dinner near where they live in the Valley [San Fernando Valley]. They had a 5+ hour dinner where they picked up where they left off.
They reconnected on a romantic getaway for his birthday and they immediately reignited their spark. Burke, 34 years old at that time, felt her internal clock ticking.
Her mother had her at age 30, and it set the wheels in motion for a conversation with Lawrence about marriage. “If he doesn’t see a future with me, I must move on,” she shared.
Matthew William Lawrence (L) is the middle-born of three boys; with two brothers, Joseph “Joey” Lawrence Mignogna Jr. (M) and Andrew James Lawrence (Credit: FayesVision / WENN)
She wanted a family and wanted to get married, she jokes that she “threatened him”.
She continued, “but obviously he is his own person and an adult, and no one should ever get married because someone is threatening you. Because marriage is no joke. It’s a lifetime! So, you better marry the right person.”
How did Cheryl Burke from Dancing With the Stars get engaged?
Burke’s father wanted his daughter to have the diamond that he got her mom when they were married. Meaning Lawrence had to go through Burke’s mom, Sherri Burke.
Burke laughs, “I know the man loves me because he has to go through Sherri Burke…and man oh man that ain’t easy.”
Once Lawrence received the diamond from Burke’s mom, he redid the base and the band of the ring at XIV Karats, Ltd, a jewelry store in Beverly Hills.
Lawrence wanted to wait to propose until Burke’s actual birthday at the exact time she was born. Burke was born at 7:43 pm on May 23, 1984.
She explains that on the day of her birthday that year, she was frustrated with Lawrence because as she received gifts and flowers and cards from all of her friends and family, she received nothing from hit (yet!).
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Burke was thinking to herself, “I’m going to have to break up with this guy.” She goes on to say that Lawrence made her take a shower, which was odd, and he was concerned about her being ready before sunset. She found this odd too since he is not someone who typically cares about being somewhere right on time.
Burke wore her black and white polka dot romper, and when she was finished getting ready, she noticed flutes of champagne on their balcony and this beautiful ambiance and music. Later, they would get married to the same song playing when he proposed. Burke says she saw a letter and she thought it was a break-up letter.
She was frustrated with him at this moment and asked her boyfriend, and soon-to-be fiancé, “Not even f**king flowers?!” Which she admits was a little rude, since he had gotten her a beautiful room at their favorite hotel, Montage Laguna Beach.
She then opened the letter, which she said was in very tiny handwriting. Burke explained that she has poor eyesight and wears contacts, so reading the fine print letter was not easy. Especially because she thought she was being broken up with. She turned to ask Lawrence what the letter said, and he was on one knee.
Engagement and San Diego Wedding
The happy couple married pretty quickly after their engagement, which Burke and Lawrence are happy about since they avoided a COVID wedding and were still able to take their honeymoon trip to South Africa.
Burke’s friend and fellow dancer, Kym Herjavec, threw the couple an engagement party, and this was right after Burke’s dad had passed away. Burke, now sober, shared that her engagement party night was the first night she officially stopped drinking.
The two were married on May 23, 2019, at the Fairmont Grand Del Mar in San Diego. The venue and reception were stunning and filled with white flowers. At the time, Burke was 35 and Lawrence was 39 years old.
You can see more of Cheryl Burke and Matthew Lawrence’s relationship by watching videos on her YouTube channel where she shares glimpses into their life. The two want to start a family soon and we look forward to following along with the next part of their journey.
Cheryl Burke arriving for breakfast at Toast Bakery Cafe in West Hollywood, California, on December 6, 2013 (Credit: Owen Beiny / WENN)
The Valentino “Rockstud” tote reached ultimate ‘it’ bag status quickly after its debut and everyone simply got obsessed with it. Just months after its release, high-profile celebs were spotted carrying around the gorgeous designer purse.
And now, it seems like just about every celeb has a piece from the Rockstud collection — either the much-loved totes or the equally popular Rockstud pumps.
In December 2013, Cheryl Burke jumped on the Rockstud bandwagon. She was seen on numerous occasions toting around a fiery red version of the Rockstud dome satchel.
We just love the fierce studs on this bag! The styling is not overdone, and the studs are distributed perfectly to outline the purse.
Cheryl Burke toting a fiery red version of the Rockstud dome satchel (Credit: Owen Beiny / WENN)