Cheryl Burke called out the “cruel” body-shamers who have been speculating about her appearance.
“Let’s address the elephant in the comments section. I am not on Ozempic. I am not sick. I didn’t get a face transplant and I didn’t get a brow lift,” Burke, 41, said in a video shared via TikTok on Sunday, May 18. “The level of projection that is happening and that I am witnessing is wild.”
Burke expressed her disappointment with those discussing her looks as if she’s “not a person,” adding, “But here is the most disappointing part that really gets me. [Some of you are writing], ‘We miss the ‘old Cheryl’ from Suite Life of Zack and Cody back in 2006 or Dancing With the Stars season 2 when I was 21 or the three years ago Cheryl where I was going through a divorce.'”
While calling out the online commentary, Burke reminded people “that Cheryl doesn’t exist” anymore.
“The assumptions are exhausting as hell,” she noted. “The accusations are completely cruel and the fact that so many of them are actually coming from women is what is so shocking and hurtful.”
Burke admitted to struggling with the conversations happening about her on social media, saying, “I have been in the public eye since I was 20 years old. My body has changed over the past 20 years. My face has changed because I have changed.”
She continued: “I have experienced so much trauma, divorce, sobriety, burn out and reinvention. This is by no means a pity party. I have healed, I have lost and I have grieved like anybody else. Maybe it shows but I am not sorry for it. Not one bit.”
Burke specifically called out women who were “tearing down other women” and “pretending it is out of concern” for her well-being.
“What has been so challenging is this pressure to prove that I haven’t done something and to convince other people that my healing is valid,” she added. “I am quieter, I have boundaries and more discernment. Frankly, I don’t feel safe the way I used to on social media.”
Burke made it clear she didn’t care what others thought about her appearance. “I am still healing, still growing and still choosing to show up,” she concluded. “If you are here to speculate, compare to demand answers that you are not entitled to, then you are not welcome in this space that I have created.”
In the caption of her TikTok, Burke issued a strongly worded statement to those expressing concern about her appearance.
“I’m not on Ozempic. I’m not sick. I didn’t get ‘a new face,'” she wrote. “Stop dissecting women’s bodies like they belong to you. This is YOUR reminder: I don’t owe you an explanation for my healing or for anything quite frankly. Let this be the last time I have to say it.”
