Chrishell Stause says her decision to join the season 29 cast of Dancing With the Stars was "the right thing to do."
Despite the pressures of filming a TV show amid an ongoing pandemic and dealing with the aftermath of her dramatic run on Netflix's Selling Sunset, Stause is looking forward to cha-chaing through a challenging period in her life. In fact, she's finding inspiration in the memory of her mother, who died of lung cancer in July.
Speaking to E! News and various outlets during a press conference on Sept. 9, Stause said losing her mom taught her that "life is short" and that she "would have been the very first person telling me to, like, get out there and, you know, just give it your best shot and you're going to be great." Stause said knowing her mother's reaction to the casting decision would have been positive made her realize she made the "right" choice.
Following the death of her mother in July, she shared a tribute on Instagram. "In disbelief that you are gone," Stause, who also lost her dad to lung cancer in April 2019, wrote. "Feeling just about every emotion, but I find comfort knowing Dad is up there taking care of you and showing you the ropes like only he could."
She added, "Absolutely heartbreaking watching you take your last labored breath, but there is a peace knowing you two are together again, free from the pain that plagued your time here."
There's no denying it's been a rough year for Stause. As fans learned on season 3 of Selling Sunset, Stause's ex-husband and This Is Us star Justin Hartley filed for divorce from her in November 2019—via text message.
Thankfully, Stause has managed to take her roadblocks in stride, instead focusing on her fierce DWTS competition, which includes Tiger King's Carole Baskin, The Real's Jeannie Mai, Jesse Metcalfe, The Bachelorette's Kaitlyn Bristowe, and Johnny Weir, who she says if "one to really look out for."
Though she doesn't have traditional dance experience and is working on training her body "to do things I didn't know it was capable of," Stause, above all, wants to send a positive message about perseverance.
"Hopefully it can be a source of inspiration to someone to look at me and be like, ‘Oh, well if she made it there, she came from there, you know, maybe I can too,'" she said. "And I love that aspirational aspect of Dancing With the Stars and how positive it is. That's a huge draw for me to want to be a part of it."