Reality TV
Giada De Laurentiis Turned Down ‘Dancing With the Stars’ 10 Times — What Finally Changed at 56
Giada De Laurentiis joined ‘DWTS’ season 35 after turning the show down many times, and she explained why she finally said ‘yes.’
Food Network star Giada De Laurentiis is competing on season 35 of Dancing with the Stars, and she survived the first elimination. Competing with Dancing with the Stars pro Alan Bersten, De Laurentiis recently opened up about why she decided to compete on the show now.
De Laurentiis told E! News, “Funny enough, Dancing with the Stars has come to me maybe 10 times over the years.” She turned down the invitation every time, emphatically. “I was always like, ‘No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.”
However, this time, she decided it was time to give it a try. It turns out, there’s a good reason why she decided that the timing was right to finally say yes.
“This time, I thought, with my daughter pushing me and with my daughter out of the house, this is a really good time for me to go on a new adventure and push myself to do something I’ve never done.”
The Food Network star has one daughter, Jade, who graduated high school in May. In August, De Laurentiis and Jade’s extended family moved her into a dorm for her first semester of college at New York University.
In January, in anticipation of Jade leaving home for college, De Laurentiis told People, “I think it’s going to be a whole new chapter in my life. That moment of being a mom is sort of done.”
She continued, “I’m not done, but she goes to college, so I’m not here day-to-day the way that it has been for 18 years, so that’s a huge change.”
“It’s really exciting, but I think it’s also incredibly emotional because everything I do with her I feel like is one of the last times I’m going to do it in this way,” De Laurentiis admitted.
The season 35 Dancing with the Stars contestant added, “It’s a lot to navigate through.”
After accepting a spot on Dancing with the Stars and just before moving Jade into her dorm, De Laurentiis admitted to E! News, “I tried to get out of it. Right before I dropped her off, I was like, ‘I can’t. This is just too much.’ And she’s like, ‘Mom! Pull up your boots and let’s go. Get it together.'”
De Laurentiis is following her daughter’s advice. “I’m trying to tell myself even at this stage, you can do something new. You can conquer something new.” So far, Dancing with the Stars fans are having a blast following her journey and cannot wait to see more.
