Cheryl Burke Says Accountability Helped Her Quit Alcohol

Cheryl Burke is opening up about her journey to accountability, which helped her stop drinking and get sober.

On Wednesday, Sept. 4, the Dancing with the Stars alum, 41, posted a video on Instagram, sharing how her perspective on accountability has changed over the years.

“I used to think accountability was this heavy word. Like it meant punishment or blame,” she began. “For so long, I pointed fingers outward — at circumstances, at people, at timing. I told myself stories that protected me from facing the truth. Those stories kept me stuck — and stuck became my identity.”

“When I finally decided to take accountability for my drinking, I was terrified,” she admitted. “In all transparency, I just didn’t want to have to admit that I didn’t have any control. But saying those words, ‘I am responsible for my life,’ it broke something open for me. And as scary as it was, it actually gave me a strange kind of freedom because when you own it, you realize that you have the power to change it.”

Burke went on to explain that taking accountability for her actions is a “messy” journey, but it’s one that she needed in order to turn her life around.

“Accountability was the hardest pill I’ve ever had to swallow — yet it saved my life. 💔” she added in the caption. “For me, it wasn’t just about sobriety, it was about finally looking in the mirror and saying, ‘No one else is coming to rescue me. I have to choose me.’”

“Accountability is where transformation begins,” she ended her post. “It’s not blame — it’s freedom 🙏🏼”

In July, Burke celebrated 7 years of sobriety, sharing photos on Instagram from when she used to drink and opening up about how she’s feeling now.

“7 years ago, I thought sobriety would mean losing everything. The fun. The freedom. The fearless version of me I thought only showed up after a drink,” she wrote. “But what I didn’t realize back then…Was that the escape I craved was really from myself. And the girl I ran from? She was the one waiting to save me.”

“I used to believe alcohol gave me confidence, connection, and control. Turns out, it stole those things quietly — day by day — until I couldn’t recognize my own reflection,” she continued. “Today, I no longer chase chaos dressed as fun. I no longer tolerate connections that require me to abandon myself. And I no longer mistake numbness for peace.”

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Burke admitted that she relied on alcohol as “liquid courage” to make her “magnetic, untouchable, more lovable” but that version of herself “was never real to begin with.” 

Since quitting drinking in 2018, the professional dancer said she’s gained “Presence. Peace. Self-respect. And a relationship with my Higher Power that reminds me I was never walking alone — not even in my darkest moments.”

Burke added that her faith helped her through her sobriety journey, writing, “God didn’t take the pain away… He held my hand through it and gave me the strength to rise.”