Professional dancer Cheryl Burke is an athlete with attitude on the dance floor. Now the "Dancing with the Stars" competitor is taking on the tabloids that say she is going from fit to fat.
"The worst thing I would have to say is that people thought that I was a few months pregnant when starting the show, saying that I needed to join a diet system, Jenny Craig," said Burke in the "GMA" interview.
"I think it's horrible. I think she looks fine. She looks healthy and beautiful. I think that's ridiculous," said Jennifer Barnet, who supports Burke.
Burke says over the summer she gained five pounds when she wasn't working out as much. She says she is happy with her curves and her size-4 body.
"I feel really comfortable in my own skin. And for people to call me fat is just the wrong message to send out to women my age, or even older," said Burke.
"She's a dancer. You can't get in any better shape than that. She is not someone to be picking on ... no one is. I don't think you should be picking on anybody's weight," said Kelley Lippincott, who supports Burke.
Burke isn't the only star to be attacked for gaining a few pounds. Supermodel Tyra Banks and actor Jennifer Love Hewitt took on the critics after being targeted by the tabloids. All three said what angers them the most is the impact negative talk has.
"We create the world that we live in, right? So if we're talking about body issues of other people, we kind of turn that inward and start looking at ourselves," said Jamie Chura, who also supports Burke.
"There's a lot of women ... whose bodies are softer, but that's not necessarily fat. And they're like, 'Oh, oh ... Look at her! She's fat.' It's ridiculous. It's absolutely ridiculous," said Kristopher Blount, who supports Burke as well.
Burke says that she is starting to slim down due to the intense training of the show, but no matter what the scale says, she knows she is beautiful.
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