Cheryl Burke: I Was Molested as a Child

Dancing with the Stars pro Cheryl Burke recently painted for us a Tweet about being finger by a TSA agent. But this story is no laughing matter.

Burke is breaking their silence to be bothered by a family friend when she was five years - a horror she says she relives every day, especially lately.

His executioner is now out of jail and on the streets, adding to their anxiety. "It was very moving," Burke remembers from her abuser.




The guy was a retired postman who used to pick up Cheryl from school and doing odd jobs around the family home in Atherton, California

"He would pull my pants on your truck or touch me in the living room, while [the doctor] Ima was in the kitchen," he says.

The man was arrested after trying to sexually assault his sister and friend Burke. Burke, then 6, told the court.

"That was the scariest moment of my life," she says, although the man was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

"I felt disgusted with myself any longer," said Burke, adding that even back when he sees carriers or similar trucks.

"I knew what he was doing was wrong, but I wanted affection," she says.

And now that's out of jail, Burke is extremely careful.

"It scares me," he says. "My worst nightmare is to run on it. It was not until I die I'll be able not to worry."

Burke opens up about this in his new book, dance classes, which also discusses abusive boyfriends, including one on his own.

We hope that people who admire Cheryl can find comfort in sharing an experience that - disturbing and sad - is very common.