KTLA Interviews Charlie White And Sharna Burgess On DWTS, Their Dances, And More
Awwww, *sigh* after a big day at work today and fighting storms in our area, it’s so good to be home and see these two on my computer screen. And what a great interview! *love them* Thanks Abby for the heads up!
ETA: And did you know Charlie has asthma? Here is more from People…
The Dancing with the Stars contestant and Olympic gold medalist, 26, has been living with asthma since he was a baby.
“I’ve always had to train harder than others to get the oxygen to my muscles because of my lung capacity,” he told PEOPLE during a break from rehearsals with partner Sharna Burgess. “I have to push myself past the point of being comfortable.”
The whole situation has been difficult, not just because of White’s health.
“At one point I had to get a therapeutic usage exemption form and prove that I had asthma,” White said of the hassle of participating in the Olympics with his condition. “After that they would always test and measure the dosage I had in my system very carefully.”
What a super cute interview. I kinda LOVE the KTLA group. They always seem to have a great time with so many of their celebrity guests. And I love how Charlie and Sharna both seem so at ease with each other and talked to others so easily.
I’ve always been curious about Charlie and his asthma medication with the competing they’ve been doing for so many years. So much of the medication is steroid based, that I wondered how he was able to take the medication he needs. It was an interesting view into the competitive process.
If you go back and watch D/W FDs over the past 4 years or so, you can actually see that at the end of some of those competitions, Charlie’s lips are blue (or nearly blue) showing exactly how oxygen starved his lungs can be. They competed at the international Four Continents 2012 competition in Colorado Springs (at altitude) and Meryl is practically having to carry Charlie off the ice and you can hear him say to his coaches, Marina and Oleg, that he needs to sit down.
I keep thinking in my head about this kid growing up. He was a violin playing figure skater with braces and an inhaler growing up. Can you BE any more of a stereotypical “nerd” type? lol
And that is why I am so in awe of this kid. He played hockey for years, while doing single figure skating and ice-dancing! And all these
and was a part of the school orchestra playing the violin. And he also participated in the school government.
Yes. I saw him in one of the competitions doing their Notre Dame de Paris routine and he was kneeling on the ice for quite some time trying to get his breath back. I really don’t know how he does it. Hats off to him.
Oh, thanks for this interview! Charlie and Sharna are both so charming. What a smooth response to the Abby Lee Miller situation. I’m always impressed at how Charlie can answer the same questions over and over without ever sounding bored or irritated. It’s really a shame that being constant and drama-free will probably cost them a chance to win, but I wouldn’t want them to be any other way.
I didn’t realize that Charlie’s asthma was quite that bad. Funny, the uber fans of other dance teams have often accused him of faking his breathing issues at the end of performances to manipulate the judges and fans. He and Amy should swap pointers!
Huge thanks to Vogue and Abby for finding and posting this gem. These two just make me so happy!
AC, great minds think alike! 😛 Loved Sharna’s honesty about having that disgusting woman at the judges’ table but really loved the way she smoothly guided the interview away from the trashy drama and back to the positive and important stuff. You’re absolutely right about Charlie — the same questions over and over, yet never the slightest sign of boredom. Both of them are consummate professionals and that’s one of the many reasons I adore them. Finally, I worry along with you that their very professionalism will cost them a chance to win, but their integrity wouldn’t allow them to do the show any other way. So I applaud them and will *try* to take what comes on Monday as gracefully as I know they will. Oh please, all the 10,000 little dance gods, let them make the finals!
Oh, and may I say I’m in awe of Charlie’s posture. Wish I could learn to sit in a chair the way he does. 😛
This is a great interview. Thanks!
I haven’t watched Meryl or Charlie at all before DWTS, but they impressed me as people. And the natural and beautiful way they carry themselves in interviews is exemplary.
I wish we saw more of Charlie’s personality in the DWTS packages. I know he and Sharna are very focused and very professional, but after so much time dancing and traveling together they must have reached a level of familiarity for them to kid around and make fun of each other.
This is like the 2nd or 3rd time I’ve seen/heard Sharna mention the WTF factor about their Samba song. I’m VERY curious as to what it is and how she handles the choreography. Sharna DID say in one of those post show interviews that she absolutely LOVES their Fox Trot song, so I’m stoked to see that one. I THINK Charlie will do amazingly well at Fox Trot. I’m nervous about the Samba tho. *sigh* Such a mother hen, it fairly sad and pathetic.
Agreed Cidra! 🙂
Sharna has been working her butt off by coming up with complex choreography week after week and Charlie has been delivering in the same fashion. And I love both their attitudes. They both seem so professional, positive and funny. Sharna definitely speaks her mind in interviews when she feels strongly about something without coming across as being impolite. I admire that quality about her. I agree with some folks that feel that being drama free or nomancing for the show may be their downfall. I just hope every week that they get to stay another week because it is just so much fun watching these two.
Great interview. Sharna is fabulous. i already knew Charlie was, but I really like Sharna.
Charlie is like a surprising number of Olympians with asthma. There have been a few times where he has come off the ice practically doubled over wheezing, with Meryl right there bent over with him.
Slightly out of the DWTS lane, but the big question in the figure skating world has been whether Charlie and Meryl will continue to compete on the amateur level, and train for the 2018 Olympics. They have not (at least publically) made that decision. I think his mentioning that he and Meryl had achieved all of their dreams together, and had won Olympic gold might be a foreshadowing of their decision to turn pro.
Leesa, not to hijack the thread, but I hope Charlie and Meryl do retire. If I were in their shoes, I’d be more than ready to say goodbye to Olympic skating. They’ve been at it for 17 years and have achieved all their goals. Going 4 more years at that level seems like a bloody waste of life to me. It’s easy for their fans to say “oh no, they’re fabulous, I love them. They need to keep going. I want them to defend their gold 4 years from now.” To them, I say, “sure, you’re not the ones sacrificing every other aspect of their lives. ” So I say to Charlie and Meryl, “be smart; step away now. Enjoy your achievements, treasure them forever, but move on to enjoy the rest of your lives.”
I tend to agree Cidra. Once you’ve achieved all your goals for yourself, how do you continue to find the motivation to keep training and put the rest of your life (and any loved one’s life) on hold? I would imagine both of them are ready to start thinking about marriage and families. I KNOW they both are anxious to finish their education and Charlie has even said he wants to go to law school.
I certainly wouldn’t blame them for deciding to hang up their competitive skates and get on with the business of “living.”
/threadjack (lol)
childhood asthma is chronic & therefore an advanced maintenance program is necessary. well controlled asthma allows for a normal non restricted life.
typically an inhaler is used each day on rising (w/added medication used as needed)
as mentioned – high altitudes, cold, smog, strenuous exercise & stress (raise the risk level for attacks)
a key element is to prevent hyperventilation (much higher a risk w/asthma) & is not uncommon in the general population. hyperventilating leads to panic which leads to even more rapid shorter breaths & prevents the lungs from needed oxygen & inevitably loss of consciousness
Recommended you inhale through your nose, exhale out your mouth & pace your breathing – all those hugs following a strenuous routine – are 2 fold – 1 being it allows him to slow down his breathing & get in a rhythm so he doesn’t hyperventilate
OK, driving down the non DWTS lane for just a tad longer…Cidra and Angie, I agree. Meryl and Charlie can go off and do their NBC skating specials, tour US/Canada/japan and make big bucks, go back to Ann Arbor, finish college, do other stuff. They already have Olympic gold and silver medals. And as you know, ice dance judging seems to be fickle and has not always been above board, so now we know why Meryl and Charlie are so zen about the judging at DWTS, bahahaha. Regardless, i have enjoyed watching them and their partners immensely while on DWTS, and I will be sad to see the this season come to its conclusion in a couple of weeks.
Get to cheer Charlie & Meryl on in person plus the added pleasure that Scottie (Hamilton) will b there. Great to see another native Ohioan cheering them on. A mea culpa on behalf of the many skate family members who simply want to enjoy the added time in seeing much loved ‘family” (courtesy of dwts) but cringe when some guest individuals who seem to be part of this extended family are crude & rude to U their host(s) while visiting your site.
This interview is a good example of demonstrating further who Charlie is…divulging personal info is quite new since he & Meryl spent much of the past 2 decades shielding their personal & famiy privacy from public display. From what I understand it was Derek’s idea they appear on dwts….Now as to where this may lead them commercially is still unknown…but Charlie has often mentioned that there are other things in life than skating…so time will tell.
No, notredam, I don’t think it was Derek’s idea to put them on DWTS. I think they were asked multiple times if they were going to do DWTS because Derek choreographed their short program and that was widely known. They said yes often enough to the media that the producers asked them.
I love these two and I will be devastated if they dom not go into the finals. I started to like Sharna when she was partnered with Andy Dick
and was amazed at her choreos with him and took him much farther than
deserved. I also like her no-nonsense views and her refusal to engage in
stupid dramas and jsut working hard. She and Charlie have had fun during their rehearsals and I don’t know why the producers never showed them in
his packages. Sigh. Just another thing besides underscoring him to get their agenda going forward.
He mentioned somewhere that Sharna and Tanith has become good friends.
I agree that this was a really sweet interview with Charlie & Sharna. I’ve loved Sharna ever since she trained Andy in Season 16. Her choreo. with him was so cute and creative and funny. I think she doing a great job with Charlie, and to me he has been underscored. And, I don’t think his rehearsal packages are very long or show how hard he is working.
Derek didn’t choreograph their short program. Their coach did. He helped them with some aspects of their presentation.
Hey all, check out the rehearsal interview just added to the first post if interested.
He has a choreo credit, Ashley – everyone has said it. It’s entirely possible that he and the coach did it together, but that doesn’t lessen his contribution. Presentation is part of the choreography, in any case. I’m not sure why this is so important to you – he’s been credited EVERYWHERE for his contribution to their program, including by Meryl and Charlie themselves. Not sure why you insist on picking nits.
Voguerista,
is the rehearsal interview on this post? I am on my ipad so don’t know if it’s just not showing up. I’ve looked in other posts too. Thanks so much!!
#Princess Heidi
this is second hand info I was told so it definitely could be squirrelly in the retelling – (U definitely have the dwts info connect) mine came from the skate connect – after Derek agreed to have a hand in working w/Meryl/Charlie on their presentation technique & then progressed to the short program choreo I was told they informally talked about dwts (not privy to those conversations) but somewhere in this time frame Derek “supposedly” approached a producer with a (if U extend an invite to M&C/their reps now about appearing “I think they may definitely consider it” (that’s what I heard) I also heard a variation that Derek tentatively on request from a producer inquired as to whether they would be interested in a dwts invite. & of course they are well acquainted with previous skaters who have appeared & I wouldn’t doubt tapped them for what their experiences were like. M&C (& their reps) were already being courted by agents for commercial ventures that if & when they won Nationals again (little doubt) & even more agencies interested in them if they (again little doubt) would lead the USA Olympic ice dancing contingent & score well. (following their gold medal win – the slow at the gate ad agencies were kicking themselves) even more so now when Meryl and (my) Charlie have unleashed their “real” down to earth, upbeat charismatic personalities.
No matter – their SD scores were vital – and their presentation was spot on – no matter how they got to dwts the opportunity to see Meryl & Charlie was a bonanza to the “skate family” both National & International, active and retired, pro & amateur & we are eternally grateful . We couldn’t want 2 better individuals 2 promote the sport & its competitions. There is no hesitation in using them to inspire the youngest skaters & encourage other youngsters to try their hand at it. I was so happy to see Charlie lead off this past weeks program with a classic dance in a particularly upbeat presentation with all those young dance students both in studio & watching on the tele. (Thank God for fashion adhesive/tape).
brook, yes,the rehearsal vid where Charlie basically says what’s written in the People article is on the bottom of this post.
All this Meryl and Maks overload!! So Access Hollywood has a new interview with Charlie and Sharna and spend quite a few minutes grilling Charlie about whether the fauxmance is real? Waltz Tango Foxtrot!
Kate, why am I not surprised? Disgusted and indignant on Charlie and Sharna’s behalf, but not surprised. Billy and Kit are all smut, all the time.
It’s so obvious that Charlie and Sharna are having a “nomance” that they had to try a different way to get some hook-up talk in the interview. Stupid, of course, because even if there was something going on with M&M, Charlie and Meryl have been keeping each others secrets for years and aren’t going to start spilling their guts now.
Cidra
LOL, I should’ve known better. I wish they get some better interviews this week. At least the KTLA one was good. I wish they get to do Good Day LA again or something. The one they did after their first week was pretty good.
# Princess Heidi
should also have mentioned Alex Wong was involved (if U aren’t already aware)
Marina Zoueva their coach/choreographer wanted a more visual sensual feel to their Olympic program (the story behind the music they skated to in their long program after all is exotic & erotic) Don’t know who was actually responsible for the move where Meryl runs her hand down Charlie while stationary at center ice but kudos to them.
Eh – local station’s alway seem to do a better job on asking pertinent questions – mainline entertainment interviewers seem to take their cue from the blurbs lining the grocery checkout lines in the type of question they ask.
Er, I’m not sure why some of you Meryl and Charlie fans think I have no knowledge at all of their recent past. I’m fully aware that Alex Wong was involved in their long program – saw pictures many months ago. But thanks for sharing, I guess. That said – let’s try to get this back on topic of DWTS.