Exclusive Interview
‘Dancing With the Stars’: Jenna Johnson Reveals Family Plans With Val Chmerkovskiy
What To Know
- Jenna Johnson and Val Chmerkovskiy have been married since 2019 and have a son, Rome.
- In an interview with Swooon, she revealed if they plan to expand their family.
- Johnson also opened up about having Rome on the road for the DWTS tour and more.
Jenna Johnson and Valentin Chmerkovskiy are able to combine what they love with who they love as a married couple on Dancing With the Stars. The pro dancers tied the knot in 2019 and welcomed their first child, a son named Rome, in January 2023.
This year, Johnson, who has partnered with Revlon Hair Tools, and Chmerkovskiy have their son on the road with them for the Dancing With the Stars tour, and she opened up to Swooon about what it’s like to travel the country with a three-year-old on a tour bus. Plus, are more kids in their future?
Yes, Johnson and Chmerkovskiy still plan to expand their family. While addressing her future with the show, Johnson said, “I would hope to be part of the show as long as they’ll have me. I think I’m going to be one of the ones where they’re like, ‘Are you sure you want to do another season?’ But there are [other] things I want to do, too. Eventually, I do want to have another child.”
Johnson previously revealed that she had a miscarriage in 2021. She lost her baby while rehearsing for a DWTS tour show in Dallas. While pregnant with Rome in 2022, she did not participate on Season 31 of the dance competition show.
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When it comes to having Rome on the road, Johnson admitted that it’s been “so fun,” even though she was “super nervous” about it at first. “He is in school, he is absorbing so much right now, and I was just so nervous about taking him out of that routine,” she explained. “But it has been so beautiful to see all of our castmates act as aunts and uncles to him.”
Rome is fully engrossed in tour life and “knows everybody’s name” in the cast. “He loves watching the load in and load out with all the trucks and forklifts and everything. It’s been such an incredible experience,” Johnson added. “I think for all the nerves I felt leading up to it, I feel so overwhelmed with gratitude that we decided to take the risk and take him on this journey with us. I know that these are memories that will last forever for us as a family.”
Rome also watches the show “every single night,” and Johnson said it’s been “so fun” to see videos of him observing his parents on stage. “It makes me a little bit emotional, honestly, just thinking about it,” she admitted. “I do have to sacrifice a lot of my time from him because of work, but I think that these moments make it all worth it. Like, this is what mommy and daddy do and they really love it and they’re chasing their dreams and following their passions. This is what it looks like. This is what sacrifice and hard work looks like. So it’s really incredible.”
And, yes, Rome has already gotten the itch to be an entertainer like his parents. “I think he’s a performer,” Johnson confirmed. “Whether he’s going to be a dancer or not, I’m not quite sure, but he definitely has that star quality, performer magic.”
Johnson and Chmerkovskiy also do their best to prioritize their relationship amid their busy tour schedule. “Not only are we just husband and wife on the bus, but we’re also performers, and we have a job to do that we both take very seriously,” Johnson explained. “We love what we do. We love our craft. We take that seriously individually. So today is a day off, for example, and we’re definitely going to have date night. We prioritize that, where we find those human moments where we can really reconnect outside of work and just take a second to be normal and communicate, connect, and check in.”
It helps to have other couples in the cast, as well, along with Daniella Karagach and Pasha Pashkov‘s toddler daughter, who’s also on the road. “It does feel very family-oriented, which I love,” Johnson gushed. “I have my niece [Hailey Bills] on the tour with us this year, which is nuts. So I think there’s so many beautiful full circle moments happening on this tour. We’re all very connected.”
Johnson is admittedly “looking forward” to the tour ending in May, though, which is when she’ll finally have some downtime. “I just want to disappear with my little family somewhere, hopefully in Europe, and just enjoy some vacation time,” she said. “As of now, I’m really motivated in my workspace, so even today has been such a treat for me outside of the Dancing With the Stars world and performing on stage, to be able to do a partnership like Revlon is a dream come true for me. So I’m just kind of in that grind work mode right now.”
