Sara Evans recalls quitting ‘Dancing with the Stars’ amid her divorce

Washington [US], April 5 (ANI): American singer-songwriter and music producer has recalled a difficult period in her life that eventually led to her public withdrawal from ‘Dancing with the Stars’ in 2006, reported People.

Evans, 53, described the period as a “really, really horrific time” in her life, as her debut on season 3 of the ABC competition series coincided with her divorce from ex-husband Craig Schelske.

“I would be on Dancing with the Stars, and you could see some of the episodes, my eyes were just blood red swollen because I’d been crying the whole day, missing my kids,” Evans said on an episode of her podcast Diving in Deep, released on Thursday, April 4.

She said her marriage began to fall apart about six months before she signed on to ‘Dancing with the Stars’, and she knew she “needed to get out of the marriage,” even though she “didn’t believe in divorce.”

To shoot the programme, she temporarily relocated to Beverly Hills with her children Avery, 24, Olivia, 21, and Audrey, 19, as well as a babysitter, while Schelske stayed in Oregon but would go to Los Angeles for filming days.

“He wanted to be at every episode and come down here and be seen on TV, on camera, and also at the same time, he was trying to make a case against me to show that I was working and not being a good mom,” she alleged on the podcast.

As per People, Evans said the show’s schedule was gruelling, and that she’d often have to fly out to perform shows that were already booked during rehearsal time. She was partnered with Tony Dovolani and made it to sixth place before bowing out. NFL star Emmitt Smith eventually took home the season’s mirrorball trophy.

“I was killing myself. It was so exhausting,” she recalls. “I remember getting up at 3 a.m. and doing hair and makeup to be on all these morning shows… It was one of the hardest times in my life.”

Meanwhile, in addition to the demands of her job, her marriage to Schelske was disintegrating, and she’d frequently cry while getting her makeup done for the programme.

She eventually reached her limit and contacted divorce attorneys in Nashville. Evans filed for divorce on October 12, 2006, following an alleged incident while out to supper at The Grove shopping centre in which Dovolani was forced to intervene to diffuse a heated situation with Schelske.

“I had to quit Dancing with the Stars because the next day we were going to start the group dance rehearsals and because of the trauma that my children went through at the restaurant, I said, ‘I’m quitting,'” she recalled.

Though the star was still contractually bound to the show, she was allowed out of her contract if she agreed to give an interview explaining the circumstances.

“I remember having to go in hair and makeup and sit in some hotel room and do this interview with Tony Dovolani, and without telling the details… explain that my kids were traumatized and I’m not leaving them for five seconds, and so I have to quit the show,” she said. “I probably would have won!”

Evans sat for a pre-taped interview with then-host Tom Bergeron, which aired on October 17, 2006. In the interview, she said she “would have had a nervous breakdown” had she not withdrawn from the competition, and that an undisclosed incident “was very hard for my children.” The singer went on to marry radio personality and former professional player Jay Barker in 2008, reported People.