Most breakup stories don’t end with dinner invitations and potential double dates, but then again, most exes aren’t as gracious as what Sharna Burgess is describing about Sasha Farber.
On the Monday, May 11 episode of the Penthouse With Peta podcast, the 40-year-old Dancing With the Stars choreographer opened up about her past relationship with fellow DWTS alum Sasha Farber, 42, and what made it different from other romances in her past.“Sasha Farber and I used to date,”she revealed.“He was such a sweet boyfriend. He’s such a great guy. I talk about how I’ve dated so many a**holes, he was not one of them. He was always a great guy, and he came into my life at a time when I just really needed to remember how to laugh again.”
The two met years ago while touring together on Burn the Floor, where they eventually became more than just dance partners.“We got together when we were in Reno,”Burgess recalled, painting a vivid picture of late-night vodka-fueled tour life before adding with a laugh that some details were better left in the past. She and Farber had been flirting with the idea for a while, and one particularly bold night, she knocked on his hotel room door—the rest, as they say, is complicated history. The couple danced through their relationship for what Burgess estimates was between three and five years, though the exact timeline is hazy now. When you’re living on the road, years can blur together.
But real life came calling. Burgess eventually left Burn the Floor after five or six years when she learned her father was in kidney failure and needed to return home to Australia.“Like, I never knew when I was going to be back on tour again. Sash was with the tour, and it was like,‘When are our wires [and] our lives paths ever going to cross again?’And so, we broke up over that video call [program] Skype.”It was the kind of ending that nobody wants—logistics over love, distance over desire. But here’s where the story takes an unexpectedly warm turn.
Instead of bitterness, Burgess found grace. She acknowledged that the breakup, though difficult, led Farber toward his own journey with now-ex Emma Slater. They were married from 2018 to 2023, and Burgess seemed genuinely at peace with how things unfolded.“They were meant to have their journey with each other too,”she said. Six months after the Skype split, both found themselves cast in the DWTS troupe—a reunion of sorts, though in a different capacity.
Life has moved forward for everyone involved. Burgess found lasting love with actor Brian Austin Green, who proposed in 2023, a year after they welcomed their son Zane. Farber recently confirmed a new romance with Hallmark actress Janel Parrish. During a phone call on Monday’s podcast, Burgess even joked about her place in Farber’s future:“Am I going to be invited to the wedding even though I’m the ex-girlfriend?”Farber didn’t commit to wedding plans, but he did offer something warmer—an invitation for Burgess and Green, 52, to join them for a double date dinner.
It’s a reminder that some endings don’t have to be messy. Sometimes they’re just the necessary closing of one chapter so better ones can begin.
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Local Lawton
Local Lawton is a contributor to LocalBeat, covering local news and community stories.