Cheryl Burke Shares Her Advice for Nikki Garcia After Artem Chigvintsev's 'Very Unfortunate' Arrest (Exclusive)

Cheryl Burke Shares Her Advice for Nikki Garcia After Artem Chigvintsev's 'Very Unfortunate' Arrest (Exclusive) https://ift.tt/267rP4R

"I hope that Nikki and Artem are protecting their heart, and I hope that, more importantly, their son is okay," Burke tells PEOPLE

Raymond Hall/GC Images; Kelsey McNeal/ABC/Getty; Frazer Harrison/Getty

From left: Nikki Garcia, Artem Chigvintsev and Cheryl Burke

Cheryl Burke is offering Nikki Garcia some advice following Artem Chigvintsev's arrest last month.

The former DWTS pro was arrested on a felony charge of corporal injury to spouse in Napa Valley on Aug. 29, PEOPLE confirmed at the time. And while it was never officially stated, Garcia was presumed to be the spouse involved.

Now, Burke, 40, tells PEOPLE that she was initially caught off guard when giving her reaction to the incident on her podcast, Sex, Lies and Spray Tans, because the news broke as she was recording.

“Doing [the segment] Headlines and Hot Topics about my friends is hard, I'm not even going to deny it,” she admits. “It is my job and I will do it, but I don't necessarily feel comfortable doing it because I know that feeling when you're being talked about, and it's not fun.”

getty (2)

From left: Cheryl Burke and Artem Chigvintsev

Related: Cheryl Burke Is in 'Complete Shock' Over Artem Chigvintsev’s Arrest: 'He's My Family'

Over the past few weeks, Burke says she has had time to think about the situation more clearly. While sharing that her "heart goes out to” everyone involved, the podcast host says there is one person who she has on her mind most.

“This is just a really unfortunate situation, and I just hope everybody's okay,” she says. “I hope that Nikki and Artem are protecting their heart, and I hope that, more importantly, their son is okay.”

Eric McCandless / Disney General Entertainment Content/Getty

From left: Nikki Garcia, Artem Chigvintsev, Cheryl Burke and Terrell Owens on "Dancing with the Stars"

“I just send them all so much love,” she continues. “And I hope that they take the time that they need to heal, even if that means putting your career on hold for a little bit.”

Following Garcia filing for divorce from Chigvintsev on Sept. 13, Burke is also offering some words of wisdom to to the former WWE wrestler as she also experienced a public divorce from actor Matthew Lawrence in 2022.

“It's not easy, but I believe if you just give the time that you need to grieve, we all grieve differently, there's no one way that someone should experience grief, but also, it's just important to choose you and to protect you,” she explains. “Because I think especially in society today, we tend just to take care of everyone else's needs or what we think people want from us without really sitting with ourselves and just figuring that out, even if it doesn't necessarily mean you agree with society today.”

As for being single, Burke says “I love it now, but it took a while to get here,” adding that she and Lawrence didn’t have a child together, which makes things more complicated.

Related: Artem Chigvintsev, Longtime Dancing with the Stars Pro, Arrested on Accusations of Corporal Injury to Spouse

Anna Webber/Getty

Nikki Garcia and Artem Chigvintsev attend "Twin Love" - Cocktails And Bites With Hosts Nikki & Brie Garcia at Soho House on November 16, 2023 in West Hollywood, California.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

On an Aug. 30 episode of her podcast, which was released just one day after Chigvintsev’s arrest, Burke noted that she grew up with the professional dancer and even called him “my family”.

"I hesitate to smile right now because of the current news...which I am in complete shock about,” she said. "We used to live together in my family's home in the Bay Area. It's so shocking. I get kind of emotional. My heart goes out to everyone involved.”

“It's just really hard for me because he was — he's my family,” she said. “I don't know what to say here other than I hope everybody's okay." 

For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.