Cheryl Burke<\/strong>\u2019s biggest transformation didn\u2019t happen on Dancing with the Stars<\/em> \u2013 it happened long before, on paper.<\/p>\n In a resurfaced TikTok video<\/a>, the 41-year-old dancer revealed that Cheryl wasn\u2019t the name she was born with. Burke shared that her parents originally named her Stephanie Cheryl until she \u201cforced\u201d them to change it for a very personal reason.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a girl in my middle school who bullied me named Stephanie so [I] decided to make my legal name Cheryl Stephanie Burke,\u201d she wrote in the post.<\/p>\n Burke told fans she\u2019d been getting \u201ctons of questions\u201d about the switch, clarifying that she was first named Stephanie after her father, Stephen Burke<\/strong>, while her middle name Cheryl came from her mother, Sherri<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Now, of course, Cheryl Burke is a household name, and the star is about to make her return to the DWTS<\/em> ballroom.<\/p>\n On Wednesday, October 22, the longtime pro revealed she\u2019ll be back on the ABC series next week as a guest judge for the show\u2019s Halloween Night episode.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been 3 years since my final dance and official retirement, and I still remember that night like it was yesterday. To return now, from the other side of the floor, is something I\u2019ll never take for granted,\u201d Burke wrote<\/a>.<\/p>\n Calling DWTS<\/em> her \u201chome for close to 20 years,\u201d Burke said she\u2019s eager to reunite with familiar faces and meet the new crop of performers lighting up the dance floor.<\/p>\n \u201cThe people, the energy, the stories told through movement \u2013 it\u2019s where I found my voice long before I ever used it offstage,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/staging.starmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/MEGA706221_024-scaled.jpg\")