Dancing With the Stars pros Peta Murgatroyd and Maksim Chmerkovskiy have had an eventful year. Maks, who was born in Ukraine, was there when Russia invaded the country.
Maks was able to leave the country and faced a terrifying journey. He reunited with Peta on March 2, 2022.
Maks started a charity called Baranova 27. The charity derives its title from the street where the former DWTS pro was born in Odesa, Ukraine.
Former Real Housewives of New York star Bethenny Frankel has been working hard to raise money to help refugees from Ukraine. Bethenny’s BStrong Foundation partnered with Global Empowerment Mission to raise more than $100 million to help Ukraine as of March 23, 2022.
Maks thanked Bethenny on Instagram for combining their endeavors to help Ukraine. “Thank you @bethennyfrankel and @bestrongglobal for bringing me in,” he wrote.
Now Maks and Peta are turning their attention to expanding their family. According to Page Six, Peta and Maks gave an update to Entertainment Tonight during the 2022 ESPY Awards.
“It’s going really well,” Peta said. “We’re very excited. We’re kind of in the last stages of it. There should be –fingers crossed– a pregnancy pretty soon.”
As for whether the process has taken a toll on their marriage, Peta said that their marriage is strong. She explained, “You hear the horror stories about it –marriages breaking up, all that stuff. It’s pretty dramatic, but it hasn’t gone there.”
The dance pro continued, “But yeah, there’s been some times where I’m like, ‘Oh, my gosh, I can’t believe I’m doing this.’ But honestly, we’re good. This is the path for us,” Peta added.
Peta felt that sharing her IVF journey would help eliminate the shame that some people feel. “It feels good to share it,” Peta remarked. “It’s not like, ‘Oh, look at me, look at me!’ It’s just like, ‘Finally, I can say something and not feel closed off and not feel bad about it and not feel alone.’ It feels good,” she said.
Maks was initially hesitant to share such personal information with the world. “I was a skeptic to the openness of it and [asked], ‘How open do we want to be?’” Maks commented. “Now I realize that the reason why people do struggle with it is because it’s such a taboo to talk [about it.]”
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Maks added, “A lot of people need to understand that maybe it would bypass a lot of the drama if you know that this is an option.”
Peta and Maks are already parents to son Shai, who is five years old. Sadly, Peta told People that in the last two years, she has suffered three miscarriages.
The DWTS couple is preparing to welcome a nephew or niece to the family. Maks’ brother, Val Chmerkovskiy, and his wife, Jenna Johnson, are expecting their first child in January 2023.
“We have been waiting for this for so long for them. They have been wanting it for so long,” Peta explained. “When they finally told us, it was just utter joy. They’re so ready, [they’ve] been ready for years.”
“Even if they’re not, I can’t wait to be an uncle– and for Val to know exactly what it’s like,” Maks commented.
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[Photo by Tommaso Boddi/WireImage]
