Val Chmerkovskiy Opens Up About Dancing With the Stars, Past Partners, and Getting Married
Glamour: At the beginning of the season, aside from winning the Mirrorball, what's your goal?
Val: I try every season to say, "Not this time. You're going to go in there and just do your job, show up, choreograph, teach. If she doesn't get it, you're going to do your job and smile, and then you'll go home and actually make time to sit down with the beautiful Jessica and have a great conversation like we're having and talk about other projects." But then every time the season comes around, I block everything [else] out of my life, I don't have any friends, I don't go out, I don't think about anything else but my partner, this journey, this show, and producing a project that people want to see me produce. I want to go above and beyond to give people something different and not recycle choreography, and I don't know if people really realize that. It can be disheartening for me at the end of the season to be interviewed about things and the only question the media cares about is whether I'm sleeping with my partner. It's OK to be curious, but prioritize your curiosity out of respect to me. I'm not on The Bachelor. I didn't spend 24 hours a day thinking about how to win my partner over or how to get into bed with my partner. I stress 24 hours a day about how to present my partner in the best way possible and create a number that is imaginative and is executed beautifully, so people at home are inspired or feel something.
Glamour: Well, you are doing a great job, and you wouldn't be going on tour if the public didn't love the work that you're doing.
Val: Well, thank you.
Glamour: Speaking of the tour, let's play a little game factoring in the other pros on the tour with you (Keo, Kym, Mark, Witney, Alfonso, Emma, and Sasha). Of those seven, who do you choose to go shopping with?
Val: Emma because she's my friend.
Glamour: Who do you choose to sit next to on a cross-country flight?
Val: Emma!
Glamour: Who would you call if you needed anything in the middle of the night?
Val: Out of everybody on tour, I would call Emma in the middle of the night. I would go shopping with Emma, I would fly with Emma. Emma is my friend.
Glamour: So since you'll be in Atlanta on New Year's Eve, who are you going to party with?
Val: I'll be partying by myself that night! I'm not taking anybody from the tour! I have friends in Atlanta.
Glamour: Who do you ask for girl advice from those on the tour? Emma? [Laughs]
Val: Nobody! Well, maybe Emma. [Laughs]
Glamour: So on top of the tour and your fashion line, you're also building a school in Ghana. Tell me about that.
Val: I got involved with this organization called Pencils of Promise about a year and a half ago. They have this thing for your birthday where you can start an account, and instead of presents, your family can make donations to this cause, so when they showed me the breakdown and how little it actually costs to build a self-sustaining, fully functioning school that houses 200 kids? That's a great opportunity right there to help. My success is a result of a lot of people, thanks to my parents, a great family, and great teachers. I think the only way a blessing is realized is if you pass it forward. That's the stuff that lives on forever.
