Lea Thompson Says Artem Chigvintsev Would Get 'Really Mad at Me' While Partnered onDWTS: 'He Was So Intense'

Mar. 15, 2025

Lea Thompson (left) and Artem Chigvintsev.Photo:Kevin Winter/Getty; Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty

Kevin Winter/Getty; Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty

According toLea Thompson, her time partnering withArtem ChigvintsevonDancing with the Starswas less than nurturing.

(L) Artem Chigvintsev and Nikki Bella.Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic

Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic

In light of recent allegations, Thompson recalled her time on the competitive dance series and how “hard” it was to work with Chigvintsev when they were partnered together in 2014.

“It was his first year and it was a big deal to him and he was so intense,” she began. “I didn’t realize how important it was … it was so much more important to him than to me, honestly. And so that made me really nervous. Like, it made me crazy after a while.”

While acknowledging some of the cultural differences in Chigvintsev’s teaching methods, the actress explained that “some of the things he would say to me” were “very difficult.”

“It was also really, really hard for me because I was a ballet dancer and a modern dancer and [the] first day he was like, ‘I’ve never taken any of that stuff. I’ve only done ballroom.’ And I’m like, ‘I’ve never done ballroom,'” she continued.

Lea Thompson and Artem Chigvintsev on ‘Dancing with the Stars’.Adam Taylor/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

Adam Taylor/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

Thompson went on to claim that the pro dancer was unfamiliar with ballet and therefore wouldn’t use familiar terms she could understand.

“I was never allowed to say, can I try this?” she claimed. “[He] would get so mad at me because I can’t do that. I can’t think about that. I got all this stuff in my body. I mean, I did huge ballets. I didSerenade. I did, like, the great ballets. I didSwan Lake.”

TheSome Kind of Wonderfulalum said that the breaking point occurred in “the fourth or fifth week” when the two were learning a salsa routine.

“I remember once he was really mad at me because I was counting crazy,” she recalled, sharing how she would say the number to the steps aloud. “He was like, ‘Why are you counting like that?’ And I was like, what?”

“It’s so funny when I watchedDancing with the Stars, no one realizes how much you guys are screaming at us,” she said of the pro dancers. “I’m sorry. I was like, my mind works a different way.”

PEOPLE has reached out to Chigvintsev’s rep for comment.

Artem Chigvintsev on ‘Dancing with the Stars’.

Thompson is not the only former dance partner of Chigvintsev’s who has come forward with accusations about working with him on a dance show. In the wake of hisarrest, a 2015 interview with British television presenter Fern Britton resurfaced on the internet, in which she accused Chigvintsev of shoving and kicking her during their time as partners on U.K.’sStrictly Come Dancingin 2012.

Chigvintsev latertold theDaily Expressin 2015 that Britton’s accusations were not true. “I believe I treated Fern with respect and genuine care and these claims about me are the opposite of everything I believe in and the person I am,” he said. “I cannot imagine what has prompted such statements which come as a shock to me.”

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Garcia, 40, later made herfirst public appearanceat Netflix’sChestnut vs. Kobayashi: Unfinished Beef, a live hot dog eating competition she co-hosted alongside Rob Riggle, on Sept. 2. She appeared to be in high spirits, though she was not wearing her wedding ring at the time.

source: people.com