Vanessa Lachey and Maksim Chmerkovskiy are working as a team again! After sparking feud rumors last week when Chmerkovskiy sat out a performance on Dancing With the Stars for a “personal issue,” the pair were back on Monday night for an emotional rumba.
The performance was a part of the “Most Memorable Year” week, in which Vanessa and her husband, Nick Lachey, tearfully opened up about her difficult third pregnancy.
“You channel it, you know,” Vanessa told ET’s Cameron Mathison of her emotions after the show. “[Maks] is a great teacher, and I listen as the student ‘cause this is not something I do – ballroom dance. He taught me a rumba. I have never moved my hips like that before in my entire life.”
In fact, the moves caused Vanessa to sustain a minor injury while practicing.
“I tweaked my neck, and he’s like that’s weird ‘cause the rumba is hips. Don’t move your neck!” she recalled.
At the end of the day, Vanessa was happy to have Chmerkovskiy to help her through the emotional dance. The dance pro welcomed a son weeks apart from Vanessa and admitted to crying prior to the dance for the first time.
Photo: Getty Images
“We know what the week is, and that is what dance is,” Vanessa told ET. “It is literally speaking emotion through movement, and I was worried I wasn't going to be able to do it. But I know I got this guy literally standing there, and he’s got my back… I just looked over and grabbed on and was like, ‘We got this.’”
Chmerkovskiy also reacted to his wife, Peta Murgatroyd, and her partner Nick Lachey being in the bottom two.
“She is still crying, so this is definitely going to be emotional,” he said of Murgatroyd. “I think everything was sort of pressure for her and everybody wanted to put amazing steps underneath all these incredible stories. And I think everybody came out great.”
Vanessa is already looking forward to her upcoming performance, adding, “I am so excited about next week ‘cause it's Disney. I don’t think I can cry anymore!”
For more from DWTS, watch the clip below!
