Whitney Leavitt had a hard time leaving “Dancing With the Stars” behind. In fact, the recently eliminated “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” star compared her departure to a breakup in a tearful video shared on Instagram.
“I’m just going to speak from my heart, share what I feel. I share the good, I share the bad, I share the ugly, so I’m just going to keep doing that,” the influencer said through tears. “When you get cast on ‘Dancing with the Stars,’ you see these people [for] hours each day. Then it stops. This really feels like a breakup. I feel like I’m going through withdrawals right now.
The 32-year-old social media star rose to fame on Hulu’s hit reality show “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” a show about the Utah-based Mormon influencers who make up “MomTok.” After the series saw a massive rise in popularity, “Dancing with the Stars” brought on Leavitt and co-star Jen Affleck for its 34th season.
Leavitt was paired with professional dancer Mark Ballas for the show, with the duo frequently scoring high throughout the season. However, after reaching the semi-finals, Leavitt and Ballas were eliminated during Prince Night (where the contestants danced to the iconic musician’s songs).
“Today was so weird. It was so weird not going to the studio and not meeting Mark and learning a dance. It was just, it was just weird, and it made me sad,” Leavitt said in the social media video. “You develop real friendships and, like, real connections with these people, and you learn so much about yourself, and people constantly lift you up, and you challenge yourself. You feel so loved.” You can watch his full video below.
Leavitt used the video to share key lessons from the experience, including surrounding yourself “with people who believe in you, who want to see you achieve your crazy dreams.” That’s when she cried out for Ballas’ friendship – and the tears really started to flow.
“Of course, I loved performing on that stage, I loved wearing the costumes and dancing and expressing myself. I loved every moment of it,” Leavitt said. “But the thing I loved the most that I didn’t expect was having a friend for life. A friend who makes fart noises every day.”
“I love you guys,” Leavitt concluded. “And I love this show.”
“Dancing With the Stars” airs live Tuesdays on ABC and streams on Disney+ in local time zones and the next day on Hulu.
