Understanding "Cheryl"

Over the past couple of years as a Cheryl Burke supporter I've had my reservations about her. I didn't understand many things about her. Like why she didn't seem to connect with her fans like some celebrities do. Sometimes I felt confused or hurt by what seemed like an ungrateful attitude towards her fans and followers. I often wondered why she wouldn't talk to the paparazzi or rarely spoke to the media. In my mind it was rude. But after her book "Dancing Lessons" was released in early 2011 an epiphany hit me as I was reading her story and suddenly everything I wondered about Cheryl suddenly made sense to me. Cheryl was exposed to some pretty bad things at such a tender age. Her father left her when she was 2 and between the ages of 5 and 6 was molested and had to testify against the person and take the stand at the age of 6. That had to be too much for a little girl to take on. Later down the line she was verbally and physically abused by former boyfriends that shot her self-esteem down to nothing. When people are constantly coming in and out of your life that you put your trust in only to let you down you start to build walls around your heart to keep further pain from causing more brokenness to your already wounded heart. Sometimes trying to protect ourselves from pain can come across as cold- hearted and it can often rub people the wrong way. Cheryl gets that a lot. People say she ignores her fans and only caters to her celebrity friends. I've often thought the same and by no means condone ignoring the ones that love and support you. I'm simply saying that cheryl has a hard time trusting people. She's been hurt her entire life and I think we should try to understand where she is coming from and not be so quick to call her disrespecting names. We don't know what she's going through or what's going through her mind. We don't know if those horrible memories still haunt her. The bible says in proverbs 4:7 that we should get understanding. Which means when we have no understanding about something we make assumptions, but when we begin to understand something everything is crystal clear. After reading Cheryl's book I understood her better. I understood why she was quiet and kept to herself and why she didn't open her mouth when bombarded with questions by the paparazzi. They have a way of twisting your comments into something negative. They have a way of scrutinizing you forgetting you are human and have feelings to. I've even been called some not so great names to for supporting such a person of Cheryl Burke. But I don't allow what people think of me and my support for Cheryl to change whats in my heart about her. I have my reasons and God knows exactly why. Not anyone's opinion will change me or stray me away from what I choose to do. I feel Cheryl's pain. In so many ways, I, too have been in the many dark places she has been and understand how hard it is to find yourself there. I just wanted Cheryl's fans and followers to try to be more understanding and show a little respect. We can't make her do anything she doesn't want to do or doesn't feel comfortable doing at the time. However, I'd like to see Cheryl reach out to her fans more because we really do love and support her. I want nothing but the best for her life and her future and for her to make great choices for herself as she continues to live in a not so perfect world where criticism plays a crucial part in our lives. We just have to learn to roll with the punches. Criticism shouldn't handle us, but rather how we handle Criticism. So to Cheryl's fans and followers I wanted to shine light on Cheryl because she has been through a lot and bringing her down with negative comments is not the way to go. Let her be who she is and pray for her best.
With all the love I have for Cheryl and you guys,
Tina