Charity Lawson Recalls ‘Damaging’ Bullying on ‘Dancing With the Stars,’ Believes Her Race Affected the Show’s Outcome: ‘It Was So Much Worse Than Bachelor and Bachelorette’
Emily Longeretta Charity Lawson is getting honest about her time on Season 32 of “Dancing With the Stars.” During the Monday episode of Cheryl Burke’s “Sex, Lies and Spray Tans” podcast, the former Bachelorette opened up about her experience on “The Bachelor,” “The Bachelorette” and “DWTS,” first noting that, as a therapist, she believes that “DWTS” should have a therapist on set. “I’m surprised you guys don’t.
Honestly, I’m very surprised because quite literally, while ‘Dancing With the Stars’ was great, I literally went through hell and back with my mental health in that show,” Lawson told Burke. “It hit me like a ton of bricks” Lawson, partnered with Artem Chigvintsev, came in fourth place during her season on the reality competition series but experienced a great amount of bullying, she explained on the episode.
When Burke said that was shocking, Lawson disagreed. “Is it shocking? I don’t know if it’s shocking. I think to a certain degree it was expected,” she said.
After the criticism she got from viewers during “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette,” Lawson expected the “Dancing With the Stars” audience to be kinder. “I came into the ‘Dancing With the Stars’ fanbase like, ‘This is going to be a piece of cake,’ only to be… almost to the point where it was so much worse than ‘Bachelor’ and ‘Bachelorette,'” Lawson said. “I was getting death threats for existing… for not performing enough, for being conceited, for being entitled, for being the biggest bitch on the cast.
