Peta Murgatroyd has opened up about her husband and Dancing With the Stars (DWTS) pro, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, returning home from Ukraine, amid Russia’s attack on the country.
On 1 March, Chmerkovskiy, 42, made his way back to the United States, as he first stopped at Warsaw, Poland in the process. The following day, he landed in Los Angeles, California and was greeted by his wife, Murgatroyd, 35, at the airport.
Murgatroyd discussed her reunion with her husband in a recent post shared to Instagram, emphasising how she’s “forever grateful” for Chmerkovskiy to be home.
“I never thought our family would be directly affected by this in our lifetime, I never thought what we are seeing on our TV’s was a reality in 2022,” she wrote in the caption. “I have never hugged him so tight. Shaking and forever grateful. Now it’s time to heal.”
“We cannot go back to our normal,” she added. “Our lives are forever changed. We have a new normal, and that’s ok.”
Murgatroyd noted that although Chmerkovskiy made it back to Los Angeles, they’re going to continue “their efforts to provide assistance to Ukrainian refugees”.
“We have big plans in store and our sole focus is on this war,” she explained. “A smaller plan is going up on my stories soon!”
The former DWTS pro went on to express that the “one good thing” to come out of attacks on Ukraine would be that the world is “united against” Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin.
“If there is one good thing to come of Putin’s War (and yes I am specifying this as HIS war, because I know he doesn’t represent the entire russian nation as a whole)…it’s that the world has united against this piece of s** Putin,” she wrote.
She concluded the caption by thanking her followers for their “support and constant outpouring love”.
“I see everything and I am forever thankful. Xo,” she wrote. “GLORY TO UKRAINE.”
Recently, Chmerkovskiy has discussed how he’s felt since returning to his wife and five-year-old son, Shai. And while he’s grateful to be with his family, he’s said that he’s still been struggling mentally.
“I feel guilty. I feel bad, I feel ashamed. I feel upset,” he explained during an interview on 4 March on Good Morning America.
“I’m a big boy,” he added. “I know for a fact that I’m going through something mentally. I get into these crying moments. I can’t control it. I cried on the way from the airport. I felt embarrassed the entire ride back because I was the only man on the train amongst all women and children.”
