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NEED TO KNOW
Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Peta Murgatroyd first met on the Broadway production of Burn the Floor in 2009
But Murgatroyd said in a Dec. 10 interview that when she first met Chmerkovskiy, she thought he was an "a-hole"
She recalled that he came to the Broadway production with "this big ass ego"
Maksim Chmerkovskiyknows he didn't make a great first impression on his future wife,Peta Murgatroyd.
The married couple chatted withAccess Hollywoodon Wednesday, Dec. 10, and revealed their first impressions of each other after meeting on the Broadway production ofBurn the Floorin 2009.
Murgatroyd, 39, asked her husband what he first thought of her when they initially met.
"It's the body. We've got to go to the body," Chmerkovskiy, 45, replied. "I didn't even hear you speak before I saw you move. How would I have?"
Murgatroyd blushed in response and then candidly answered the question from her perspective. "I thought that you were an a-hole," she said.
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Chmerkovskiy looked directly at the camera and said, "I know. That's why I didn't want to ask this question."
Murgatroyd then added that she also thought the professional dancer was "very tall and handsome."
She noted, "But we were both with other people at the time," and Chmerkovskiy quipped, "So you chose to hate."
Murgatroyd rejected his claim, "I didn't choose to hate." She said that he came to the Broadway production with "this big ass ego." However, the formerDancing with the Starsprofessional admitted she "grew to like" Chmerkovskiy, and eventually "grew to love" him.
Murgatroyd previouslytold PEOPLEin a 2015 interview that she thought Chmerkovskiy was "arrogant." Once she realized that wasn't the case, their friendship "grew and grew," she said.
After the couple's first meeting in 2009, they would reunite onDancing with the Starswhen Murgatroyd was cast as a troupe dancer for season 12 in 2011. Chmerkovskiy joinedDWTSas a pro dancer in 2006, while Murgatroyd was promoted to the professional cast the following season.
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In 2012, Murgatroydmade their relationship Instagram official. But after less than a year of dating, Chmerkovskiy called it quits.
In the Dec. 10Access Hollywoodinterview, Chmerkovskiy told Murgatroyd that, despite breaking up with her, that's when he knew he wanted to marry her. "At some point, when I actually came to that realization, like, 'This is it.' That's when we broke up," he said.
The two rekindled their relationship in October 2014. Then, in December 2015,Chmerkovskiy and Murgatroyd got engagedduring an episode ofDWTS.
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Theytied the knotin New York on July 8, 2017, six months after theywelcomed son Shai Aleksanderon Jan. 4, 2017.
They later welcomed their second child, sonRio John, in June 2023, and just seven months later, the coupleannounced their third pregnancy. In July 2024, they announced that their son,Milan Maksim, was born.
Since becoming parents to three boys, the pair reflected on their parenting styles, and Murgatroyd told Chmerkovskiy on Dec. 10, "You have a really good balance of love for the children and also discipline."
He then replied, "Every time I feel like I'm not going to survive this, I'm looking at you, and I'm like, 'I don't know where she gets it from.' "
Read the original article onPeople
