Danielle Fishel opened up about why she’s struggling with her Dancing With the Stars performance for the upcoming Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Night.
“We are doing ‘Dream On’ by Aerosmith,” Fishel, 44, said during the Monday, November 3, episode of her “Danielle With the Stars” podcast. “We are telling the story about how difficult it can be to be a woman in society where we are somehow always too much and also never enough. No matter what choice you make, whether you work inside the home or outside the home. If you choose to work outside then you’re selfish and your children need you and where is their mother, and if you work inside the home, then you are boring and don’t have interests.”
She continued, “And if you get botox and fillers then you’re not aging gracefully, and if you age gracefully, then you look old and ugly. And if you are too thin, you’re told to eat a burger and if you gain weight you’re told to get off the couch. There’s no winning, and having been in the public eye and on TV since I was 10 years old, I have been under a microscope, and my choices have been scrutinized. I’ve made terrible mistakes. … And I’m resistant to it because it’s triggering so many things in me.”
While speaking to her guest, former DWTS pro Louis van Amstel, Fishel explained that preparation for the performance has sparked “a lot of negative self-talk,” “disordered eating” and “all these things that are so personal.” She added that instead of “leaning into” the dance — which will be a contemporary routine with partner Pasha Pashkov — she’s found the unexpected reactions are “making me not want to do it.”
“So it’s been a rough week,” she continued. “But I think the fact that I realized it, made me wake up and think, one, so happy to be talking to you and for you to give me the advice you gave me because it really lands and resonates, but also, it’s very clear that this is striking an emotional cord for me and there’s ar eason for that and this dance actually means something.”
Van Amstel, who was a pro on and off for 11 seasons of the ABC series, thanked Fishel for being so candid, calling it a “beautiful, heartfelt moment” for her. “Just having this conversation, this is why I love or loved doing Dancing With the Stars,” he said, telling her she has “nothing to lose” going into week 8.
“You’ve made it so far,” van Amstel explained. “You can take the nerves and give up, or you take the nerves and switch on, use the adrenaline and say, ‘People at home, watch this.’”
Pashkov, meanwhile, showed support for his partner on the “Pod Meets World” Instagram clip of the episode, first leaving a handful of clapping emojis before writing, “This is why this show is so transformative. Not easy, but when we get over the hump it is life changing!”
Fishel’s husband, Jenson Karp, also sent his praise. “Love you and am just absolutely blown away by your courage,” he wrote. “Leave it all on that floor.”
During the podcast, van Amstel explained to Fishel that she’s already “made it so far,” so she can either take her “nerves and give up, or you take the nerves and switch on, use the adrenaline and say, ‘People at home, watch this.’”
Fishel showed her appreciation for van Amstel’s words, noting that while she has been “struggling” this week, there have also been highlights. She is one of two captains for season 34’s first team dance competition, an experience she said has been “amazing.”
“If I do say so myself, I picked an all-star team and it didn’t come randomly. I had a full strategy going into it, and my strategy paid off,” Fishel said of her group, which is named “Team Chicago” and includes Whitney Leavitt, Jordan Chiles, Dylan Efron, their pro partners and cohost Alfonso Ribeiro. (“Team Chicago” will dance to Chicago’s “25 or 6 to 4,” while the opposing “Team Kool,” led by Andy Richter, will perform to “Celebration” by Kool & the Gang.)
“I was thrilled with my choices, but my choices were such as I am by far, the weakest, at least female, link on the team, which is never fun,” Fishel confessed. “To feel like, ‘OK, everybody is picking this up really fast and I really need this to slow down.’”
Van Amstel told the Boy Meets World alum to “let it go,” saying she is not the “weakest link” but the person who “came in with the least experience.”
“The pressure is on them, not you,” he continued. “Everyone knows you have grown from week 1 to now, leaps and bounds, and you have the likability factor. And you have no problem with the character of the dance. Regardless of who is in your team … the only thing you can control is your movements, the involvement in the movements, listening to the music and do your part.”
He also advised Fishel to stay off social media, saying that putting too much emphasis on what people think will make anyone “go psycho.”
When Fishel asked him to give her “one” piece of advice after watching her dance, van Amstel suggested she “rip off all the layers that are left” of herself and show the “emotional self” that he feels has been held back throughout the season.
“We haven’t met, but you’re a kind person. It resonates, you can tell through the screen. You’re a kind person, the relationship you have with Pasha,” he noted. “But I would say, ‘F kind.’ Go for it.”
Fishel and Pashkov received all 8s for their Halloween jazz routine during the October 28 episode, sliding through to week 8 after The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives’ Jen Affleck and partner Jan Ravinik were sent home. She remains in the competition alongside Richter, Leavitt, Efron, Chiles, Robert Irwin, Elaine Hendrix and Alix Earle.
Dancing With the Stars airs Tuesdays on Disney+ and ABC at 8 p.m. ET. Episodes are available to stream the next day on Hulu.
