Friday, September 10, 2010

Dancing with the Stars champ shoots PSA on Domestic Violence

ET is with "Dancing with the Stars" two-time champ Cheryl Burke as she courageously breaks her silence about domestic violence and shoots a new PSA for the important social cause.

"Well, it's happened to me and it can happen to anyone and I'm just here to be able to tell people that it's very important to be able to talk about it and to reach out to somebody," says Cheryl, who is shooting a promotional spot for The Allstate Foundation's Tell a Gal Pal Campaign.

"I told a gal pal…," Cheryl goes on. "It's really hard to be able to get out of that type of relationship when you're in it. It's hard to see it. It's hard to, just to be able to talk about it. It's not your fault. You kind of feel ashamed that you're actually going through it, but actually you'll be helping yourself more if you're able to reach out to a gal pal."

Other stars who have spoken out against domestic violence include Keira Knightley, Mary J. Blige, Christina Aguilera and Salma Hayek.

For more information, please visit the "Click To Empower" Facebook page. For every pledge, The Allstate Foundation donates one dollar to the National Network to End Domestic Violence. You can also visit ClickToEmpower.org to learn more.

Aside from her courageous campaign, Cheryl also talked to ET about the new season of "Dancing with the Stars" and being partnered up with former NBA champion Rick Fox.

"Rick is doing very good -- He's really loving the whole process," Cheryl says of her much-taller partner. "He's not bad. He's pretty coordinated and he's really serious."

The biggest challenge, according to Cheryl, is dancing with the six-foot, seven-inch tall athlete with her newly made four-inch dancing heels. "It's going to be hard to see eye-to-eye," Cheryl says. "I think that's going to be a challenge."

You can see Cheryl and Rick's Viennese Waltz when "Dancing with the Stars" returns Monday, September 20 on ABC.

Posted September 08, 2010 2:01:00 PM