Giada De Laurentiis turned down Dancing With the Stars again and again, but one person finally convinced her to enter the ballroom: her daughter, Jade.
The 56-year-old celebrity chef will compete on Season 35 of DWTS with professional dancer Alan Bersten. De Laurentiis said the timing felt right after Jade, 18, left home to begin her first semester of college.
Giada De Laurentiis says her daughter convinced her to join Dancing With the Stars after nearly 10 invitations
De Laurentiis revealed that Dancing With the Stars had approached her repeatedly over the years. “Funny enough, Dancing With the Stars has come to me maybe 10 times over the years,” she told E! News. “And I was always like, ‘No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.’”
This time, Jade encouraged her mother to accept the opportunity. With her daughter starting college, De Laurentiis also saw a chance to challenge herself in an unfamiliar setting.
“This is a really good time for me to go on a new adventure and push myself to do something I’ve never done,” she said.
Even after agreeing to join the DWTS cast, De Laurentiis briefly reconsidered the decision. She recalled telling Jade that the commitment felt like too much shortly before dropping her off at college.
Jade refused to let her back out.
“Mom! Pull up your boots and let’s go. Get it together,” De Laurentiis recalled her daughter saying.
Now partnered with Alan Bersten, the Giada at Home alum has already started experiencing how different dancing feels from her usual work.
“I do not have a stove. I do not have any of my tricks and any of my tools in my toolbox,” she explained. “So this is way, way out of my comfort zone.”
Training has also introduced De Laurentiis to muscles she said she “didn’t even know” she had. Still, she views the competition as proof that she can take on something new at this stage of her life.
Bersten, who finished fifth with Elaine Hendrix last season, expressed confidence in his new partner and told her the experience would teach her plenty.
Dancing With the Stars Season 35 begins with a two-night premiere Sept. 15 and 16 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
