Sharna Burgess Opens Up About Her Identity Struggles After Becoming A Mother
Sharna Burgess is getting real about how motherhood has changed her life — and not just in the way you’d expect. The former Dancing with the Stars pro recently opened up on the Between Us Moms podcast, sharing the challenges she faced with her identity after welcoming her 2-year-old son, Zane, with fiancé Brian Austin Green.
For Sharna, 39, becoming a mom was a beautiful but complicated transition. A year after giving birth, she started feeling a profound shift in herself — one she didn’t expect. “I definitely felt the loss of identity,” she revealed, adding, “And it hit me sort of I want to say about a year ago, it was around when Zane was…you know what? I think it all happened when I wasn’t brought back to DWTS last year.”
What really triggered these feelings for her was not being invited back to Dancing with the Stars after Zane was born. “Because I was expecting to be asked back based on conversations that were had prior. And I had said no specifically because I had just had Zane. I was 8 weeks postpartum. And there was nothing in me that could imagine leaving him for so many hours throughout the day, especially my first born. I wanted to soak up every single moment of it,” she explained.
Sharna shared that the show told her they loved her and would welcome her back the following year. So, initially, she didn’t feel too concerned. However, when she wasn’t asked back the next year, the reality of the situation hit her hard. “The universe had a different plan for me and wants me to go a different direction and that’s amazing, but at the same time it was really hard for me to digest that,” she admitted.
The unexpected career shift brought on a whirlwind of emotions. In her words: “And so going through all the things that you go through when you’re not brought back for a job — rejection, what’s wrong with me? Is it because I’m a mother now and I’m not sexy and can I not do it anymore?”
Sharna described this period as particularly difficult, as she was still in the thick of early motherhood while dealing with the unexpected turn in her career. “So it wasn’t just being a mom, it was also a complete transition in career and direction that I wasn’t expecting so soon that had me go, ‘Well, who am I?’ and ‘Am I just a mom? Is this all I’m going to be?'” she shared further.
