Ballroom babies! Peta Murgatroyd, Karina Smirnoff and and more Dancing With the Stars pros have welcomed children over the years.
The Faith, Hope & Love star gave birth to her and then-fiancé Maksim Chmerkovskiy’s son, Shai, in January 2017. “This is, without a doubt, the best thing that has ever happened to us!’” the couple told Us Weekly in a statement at the time.
The pair tied the knot six months later in New York. Before Shai’s 1st birthday, their little one already “love[d] music.” Murgatroyd exclusively told Us in March 2018: “We’re trying to introduce him to that every day. He sits on our hip and we take him around the room and dance with him. He loves that.”
By the following year, the little one was “obsessed with Pitbull and Dua Lipa” during dance parties with his parents. “I think we would be upset if he was uncoordinated with us being his parents,” Murgatroyd joked with Us in February 2019.
As for Smirnoff, the season 13 winner welcomed her son, Theo, in April 2020. “She’s doing well,” a source told Us at the time. “As a first-time mom, she’s a bit nervous but also excited!”
The Famously Single alum didn’t show her baby bump until three months after her infant’s arrival. “#FBF The day before Theo arrived. #hospitalfashion #timeflies,” Smirnoff captioned a July 2020 Instagram slideshow.
Smirnoff experienced “anxiety” as a new mom, she said during a May 2020 event. “I love babies, but when I would come to my friends who had a newborn and they were like, ‘Here, hold,’ and I’m like, ‘Oh, my gosh, how do I?’” she explained. “I wouldn’t even know how to grab him or her. So, I was panicking thinking, ‘OK, the baby’s going to be born and I’m not even going to know how to change a diaper.’ And everybody’s like, ‘It comes instinctively, don’t worry.’”
Because of her nerves, Smirnoff moved in with her “incredibly helpful” parents, gushing, “I wouldn’t be able to do it without them.”
Keep scrolling to see more DWTS pros and their mini-mes, including Gleb Savchenko and others.