Ariana Madix has “Love” in her heart and her late father on her mind as she readies for her third week in the Dancing with the Stars ballroom on Tuesday night.
As part of Motown Week, the Vanderpump Rules star and her partner Pasha Pashkov will perform a quickstep to The Supremes’ “You Can’t Hurry Love.”
“This week I’m really excited about my dad,” she tells about memories of her father James Madix, who died unexpectedly of a heart attack on Aug. 15, 2013.
“I grew up listening to Motown music because that was one of my dad’s favorites,” explains the Single AF Cocktails author, 39. “And so I’m really looking forward to this week especially and being able to celebrate my dad even though he can’t watch the show or be here. Hopefully I can honor him with that dance.”
She posted a similar sentiment on her Instagram Story on Tuesday, sharing a baby photo with her father and mother, Tanya, alongside the caption: “Tonight’s dance is dedicated to my dad. It’s times like these I really wish he could be here, but tonight I’m dancing for him. Wherever you are.”
Tuesday’s performance also falls very near the one-year anniversaries of the loss of both her grandmother Bonnie, who died last September, and her beloved dog Charlotte that died on Aug. 2, 2022.
Of the Chihuahua mixed breed, the Bravo star quipped that DWTS should have a “Charlotte theme week.”
Ariana has enjoyed a solid first two weeks on ABC’s ballroom dancing competition, scoring 21 out of 30 for her debut tango to Hailee Steinfeld’s “Love Myself” and netting 20 out of 30 last week for a samba to Bad Bunny & Chencho Corleone’s “Me Porto Bonito.”
During the season 32 premiere, though, the reality star had another, less pleasant man in mind when she was “closing the book on the drama of my life.”
As Bravo fans know, the Something About Her co-owner was blindsided in early March when she discovered that her VPR costar and ex of nine years Tom Sandoval, 41, had secretly been engaged in a months-long affair with their castmate Rachel “Raquel” Leviss, 29. The affair ended the Fancy AF Cocktails co-authors’ nine-year relationship and sent shockwaves through the world of reality TV.
When Ariana stepped into the ballroom on Sept. 26 — nearly seven months after the Scandoval erupted — she reinvented her her famous “revenge dress” from VPR’s season 10 reunion to prove that “scandal does not define me.”
She garnered praise from judge Derek Hough, 38, who told her after the routine: “Ariana that was fantastic! The power. That was killer.”
After being dubbed a “sex goddess” by judge Bruno Tonioli, 67, for her undulating week 2 samba, Ariana said she feels “much more confident” since joining DWTS and promised to take the judges’ feedback, “put them to work and do better” week by week.
Dancing with the Stars airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on ABC and Disney+.
