Celebrities might seem like unreachable or unrelatable humans we can only admire (and sometimes even worship!) from afar, so it’s useful to remember that at the end of the day, they are human like everyone else. And like all humans, they fall in love, sometimes marry, and might have the very common desire to add a little baby to their families.
This is certainly the case if we look at Dancing with the Stars (DWTS) celebrities Valentin (Val) Chmerkovskiy and Jenna Johnson.
The two met back in 2014 on the iconic American dance show, where Val already had a long history with the show, including winning the Mirrorball trophy on several occasions. He had begun to appear on DWTS in season 2, and by season 13 in 2011, he had become a full-time professional on the show.
Jenna, a former So You Think You Can Dance contestant, originally joined the show as a troupe member in season 23. Just two years later, she was promoted to another one of the show’s full-time professionals.
But outside of the beloved TV dance show, the duo have had a wonderful love story – and now, they have a child on the way!
The Beginnings
Val and Jenna began to develop romantic feelings for one another after meeting on DWTS and soon began to date. However, they chose, in the early months, to keep their blossoming love out of the public eye.
Their ‘secret’ relationship wouldn’t last very long, however, after the media spotted the lovebirds cuddling on a lunch date in West Hollywood in February of 2016.
Jenna was ‘caught’ lovingly caressing Val’s hair and face as they enjoyed their lunch. They were soon spotted wrapping arms around one another as they departed from the restaurant and walked down the street together.
Five months later, in February 2017, the couple reportedly split up. It’s during this time that Val began to date Amber Rose. But it was clearly meant to be for the DWTS co-stars as they soon rekindled their relationship, unable to stay apart.
This time, they came out guns blazing and ceased to hide their relationship from the public, notably with the pair exchanging a kiss on DWTS‘ season 25 finale.
According to People magazine, for Val, going public was a natural and necessary move as he was “tired of fighting” his feelings for Jenna. He added that he was aware that celebrity love lives are often a focal point and even an obsession for people everywhere, and that was what had pushed him to originally keep his relationship with Jenna as guarded as possible.
“I feel like it’s private,” he said. “It should remain private but, at the same time, I understand I can’t be a hypocrite. I’m on Instagram kind of sharing our vacations and my love for her constantly.”
Public eye or not, Val confessed that he felt his life had changed after discovering true love with Jenna.
“I find myself to be the best version of myself that I’ve ever been,” he said. “She’s awesome.”
Sibling Inspiration: Marriage & Baby Fever
At an August 2017 interview at the Los Angeles’ Industry Dance Awards and Cancer Benefit Show, Val spoke about marriage. The timing was no coincidence: Val’s older brother Maksim Chmerkovskiy had recently tied the knot with the love of his life, latin dancer Peta Murgatroyd.
Speaking to The Insider, Val admitted that he felt that he was catching the ‘the wedding bug’, and that his relationship with Jenna was providing him with a different perspective on what happiness and love were truly about.
“I’m in a great place and I’m in love, and I’m very grateful for that,” he said.
Months later, in a May 2018 interview with Us Weekly, the couple was asked if they’d thought about getting married and having kids in the future. Jenna told the magazine that they’d indeed spoken about their next steps, but that due to the fact that the past past few months had been rather busy, the discussion had not developed much further.
“We have [talked about the next steps],” Jenna said. “I think our past few months have been a little crazy… So we kind of just discussed, ‘Let’s just get through these next few months and then we’ll kind of figure it out.’”
In addition to talk of marriage, a future baby came up. Jenna confessed that both she and Val began to feel baby fever following her brother-in-law and wife welcoming their first child, son Shai. She then pointed out, jokingly, that Val had not grown up with children and that nephew Shai would make good practice for his future dad role.
“So all of a sudden, this baby plops into their lives and [Val’s] like, ‘What do I do?’ But it’s been awesome,” she said. “It’s great to have training. He needs to learn how to change a diaper. That’s going to be a for-sure thing. But it’s so cute. He’s such a good uncle and he loves [Shai] so much.”
Jenna confirmed that the couple did indeed plan to have children of their own “in the future.”
Val echoed these thoughts with People in 2018, noting that both he and Jenna wished to become parents one day “soon”. But because life was very busy in particular for Jenna at that time, he was happy to wait for a little while.
“But she also has so many incredible things going on in her life and I would feel very selfish to interrupt them for nine months,” he said. “But definitely soon, hopefully.”
An Engagement and a Wedding
In June 2018, the couple took the next step, beginning with a sensational proposal in Venice, Italy. The very excited bride-to-be later shared the news with a picture of her and her second half Val, down on one knee.
The next photo reveals Jenna bending down to kiss her fiancé – it was a clear yes!
Val also shared the news via his Instagram account, celebrating the very special moment and captioning, simply, ‘fiancée’. The picture featured a radiant Jenna extending her arm to show off her beautiful and very sparkly engagement ring.
Jenna proudly shared the same photo, captioning “He put a ring on it💍 #engaged.”
The dazzling engagement ring featuring a large rectangular cushion-cut diamond with a halo and a pavé band formed with the same gemstone was created by the New-York jewelry retailer Jacob & Co.
Val reportedly decided on proposing in Italy as this was where he had dreamed of proposing to the woman of his dreams one day ever since he was a teen.
In April 2019, Jenna and Val tied the knot at the Terranea Resort in Rancho Palo Verdes, California in a gorgeous wedding ceremony overlooking the ocean.
Two hundred guests witnessed the lovebirds say their vows under a chuppah decorated with a stunning floral arrangement including Tibet roses, lisianthus, ranunculus, astilbe, and peonies, created by Shawna Yamamoto Floral & Event Design.
One Step Further
For the first four years of their marriage, the couple did not become pregnant. So when the happy, life-altering news was discovered they were beyond ecstatic about welcoming their first child.
The couple announced their big news in July 2022, with Jenna telling People that two weeks after the couple had returned home after a trip to Cabo, she began to feel that her breasts felt very sore and fuller than usual.
After her period didn’t come, she took a test which revealed the fantastic news: she was indeed pregnant.
“The shock and just disbelief was insane,” she told People. “I couldn’t believe it because it it wasn’t an easy journey for us to get pregnant.”
“But everybody tells you, ‘When you just relax and you don’t put the stress on yourself, it happens for you.’ That’s exactly what happened,” she added. “I think it was exactly when it was meant to be. Our little baby was created with a lot of love. It all seems so magical and meant to be.”
She creatively delivered the news to her husband, now also a proud father-to-be.
“I went and I got these little Baby Jordans, these white sneakers,” she said. “I put them in a box that was his size of Nikes. So he didn’t expect anything. Then I put two little pregnancy tests in there. I had been shaking at home waiting for him to come home. So he nonchalantly walked in and he, ironically enough, had a bag of Nikes. I was like, ‘Did you go shopping today?’ He was like, ‘Yeah, I got myself some new sneakers.’ I’m like, ‘No way. I got some too today.'”
“He came over and chucked off the lid of the box and started rummaging through it,” she added. “He looked at the shoes and was like, ‘How small are these sneakers?’ Then it hit him and his face… it was priceless.”
During the usual sensitive first trimester, Jenna has been making sure to take the time to relax and take good care of her body, though it hasn’t always been a walk in the park.
“[It’s] has been hard, because I’m a really active person,” she told People. “I love to work out. I love to dance. But I’ve just made it a priority for myself to really make a shift and to prioritize the baby and what was happening and all of these new changes.”
Meanwhile, says Jenna, Val is obsessed with all the new changes and has been an absolute sweetheart.
“Val is just so funny in this whole experience,” she said. “He is obsessed with my body growing. He’s just obsessed with everything. The boobs, the butt, the belly. So for him to be so sweet and positive about my body, has just made me feel so beautiful.”
A Growing Family
But husband and wife were not the only ones who were ecstatic at the news – sister-in-law Petra was thrilled and very excited about becoming an aunt and for her son Shai to have a cousin.
The professional dancer shared images of Jenna and Val’s pregnancy announcement as an Instagram story, enthusiastically congratulating the couple.
“Another Chmerkovskiy is coming! We are so, so ecstatic for Val and Jenna. This is such a dream,” she wrote.
Peta also shared Val’s post of a sonogram shot of their tiny baby, captioning, “We are getting another Chmerkovskiy !!!!!”
What wonderful news for Val and Jenna! I’m so excited and I can already picture a tiny little dancer in the making. Share this story to wish the couple the best of luck with their pregnancy!
