Maks Chmerkovskiy and Peta Murgatroyd.Photo: Monica Schipper/Getty
Peta Murgatroydis speaking out about the fear she felt for her husbandMaks Chmerkovskiy— and for her family — in the earliest hours of thewar in Ukraine.
The formerDancing with the Starspro, 35, sat down with her season 24 partnerNick Viallfor his podcastThe Viall Filesthis week to share what was going through her mind as she saw news of the invasion begin and called Chmerkovskiy, 42, late that first night.
Chmerkovskiy was in his home country serving as a judge on the competition seriesWorld of Dancewhen Russian forces launched a large-scale invasion on Ukraine on Feb. 24 — the first major land conflict in Europe in decades.
According to Murgatroyd, her husband was “frantic” as he packed his bags. “I don’t want to be, like, so dramatic,” she added, “but, like, our lives changed.”
She continued, “Those eight to nine days that he was there, was like — I thought he was gonna die for sure because he couldn’t get out of Kyiv. And that was the hardest thing. Those eight days were so long, tedious.”
London Entertainment/Shutterstock
When the couple reunited, Murgatroyd described the scene as “insane,” telling Viall, “The amount of press that were there I was actually scared.”
Murgatroyd admitted her husband has struggled at times to be fully present back home in the U.S. because his heart is still with the people suffering in Ukraine.
“It changes you,” she shared. “It wasn’t just all hunky dory and happy family. We were dealing with a lot together — stress, anxiety.”
She said, “I had to, like, literally take his phone away from him sometimes because, of course, in his mind he’s still there, he’s still there with his friends fighting. His friends are on the front line.”
Maksim Chmerkovskiy.Michael Loccisano/Getty
After spending a few weeks at home, Chmerkovskiy returned to the region tooffer assistance on the Polish border.
He and his family — including fellow formerDWTSpro brotherVal Chmerkovskiy, 36 — have since startedBaranova27, a charitable organization for Ukrainian humanitarian aid named after the address in Odessa where the brothers and their father were born. TheGoFundMe has raisedmore than $336,987 since it launched on March 10.
Maks (left) and Val Chmerkovskiy.Bruce Glikas/Bruce Glikas/Getty Images
Murgatroyd also revealed to Viall, 41, that Maks “had a therapy session for the first time in his life” at her urging.
“I was like, ‘You are going, and you are talking this out!” she recalled. “I don’t want this to turn into something bigger.”
She added, “He was like, ‘Book me in. Check me in … I’ll do whatever you want me to do.'”
source: people.com
