Pasha Pashkov is ready for a hiatus from the upcoming Dancing With the Stars live tour.
“[I am] looking forward to some downtime,” Pashkov, 40, exclusively told Us after the Tuesday, October 13, live show. “Dani[ella Karagach, my wife] was pregnant with Kiki, and then after that she was doing the season while she was pregnant, and then she gave birth, and two months after that … she went onto a season [where we were paired] with Jason Mraz and Ariana [Madix]. We both made the finale, so that was a long season for us, and then we went on our first tour with Kiki, and then, we’ve never stopped.”
He continued, “It’s been three years, three tours with Kiki. Now she’s 3 [years old], and she’s already done three tours. We just felt like this is the time we needed. We needed to slow down for a second to prioritize some ‘us time,’ as a family because, otherwise, there is a limit and you can just break and overwork.”
Pashkov and Karagach, 33, confirmed earlier this month they planned to sit out most of the upcoming tour to focus on their family with daughter Nikita.
“We felt like this is the right time to take a deep breath and just enjoy our lives. You know, we need it,” Pashkov told Us. “It’s long overdue, and we feel this is the right time to do it.”
Despite Pashkov and Karagach’s absence from the tour, the dancing couple might still step out for a handful of performances.
“Of course, we’re going to miss being on tour because we love performing live. I love hearing the live cheers, I love traveling. I love our bond with other pros and everything,” he stated. “The [tour] management has always been so supportive for taking us as a whole family, you know what I mean? On the road [they have] always been so supportive, so we love all of them. Hopefully, we’ll be able to get out and maybe do some dates, but we would love to do a little bit.”
Pashkov and Karagach are currently focused on the remainder of DWTS season 35. Pashkov is paired with Olympic figure skater Amber Glenn, while Karagach has been waltzing across the dance floor with Paralympic track star Ezra Frech.
Pashkov and Glenn, 26, earned their first 9s on Tuesday for their sizzling samba to J Balvin’s “Mi Gente.”
“I was so genuinely so excited [about] how the performance went,” Pashkov told Us. “In the moment, I was like, ‘Oh, [the] nine’s great,’ but then someone’s like, ‘These are your first nines.’ I was like, ‘Oh right, we got the nine.’ I was just very, very happy with how the performance went. It went smooth, everything that we worked on worked out [and Amber] showed up. … It was incredible.”
Dancing With the Stars airs on ABC and Disney+ Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET.
