Chrishell Stause Says She'll "Recover" From Divorce, but Parents' Passing "Just Feels Like I’m Adapting"

On last night's episode of Dancing with the Stars, the remaining contestants took on contemporary. Selling Sunset's Chrishell Stause and her dance partner Gleb Savchenko (aka Team Selling It!) gave a moving performance to "Stars" by Grace Potter & The Nocturnals. For Stause, this week’s performance was more than just an opportunity to prove her talent, but a way to honor her late parents.

"It's such a beautiful song. I'm so emotionally connected to it," Stause explained to Savchenko in their package (the video that airs leading up to the performance). "It's one of the songs that I listened to on repeat while I was dealing with the loss of my parents," she said.

This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

As she goes on to explain, Stause had lost both her parents to cancer within the last year-and-a-half. Her father passed in April 2019 from lung cancer. Her mother, who was his primary caretaker, was diagnosed with lung cancer February of this year. She passed in July.

"They were really loving people. Some of my best memories are with my mom dancing with her in the living room," Stause told Savchenko. “It makes me a little sad because I would’ve loved to teach her a little cha-cha or something."

Stause added, "Nobody would be more excited about me being here and doing this show than her. Right before I dance, I really feel her call me, encourage me. That has been the most special thing that I will take away from this show. I know my parents are with me. My mom's name was Ranae Stause and my dad's name was Jeff Stause. This dance is for them."

The emotional performance earned Stause her highest score yet— a 24 out of 30 from judges Carrie Ann Inaba, Bruno Tonioli and Derek Hough.

Stause shared her performance on Instagram today and gave a special shoutout to Savchenko and the show for letting her pay tribute to her parents through dance. "I felt my parents with me last night and that’s a priceless feeling I will absolutely never forget," she wrote.

Prior to taking the stage last night, she also shared a photo with her parents and explained that this week’s performance would be dedicated to them. "I Stand Up for them and all families affected by cancer," she wrote in the caption. She continued to explain that she's a proud supporter of the charity Stand Up To Cancer, which donates 100% of its proceeds towards cancer research.

She noted that while she hopes to advance to the next round, this week was about shedding a light "on something very important to me and my family."

This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

Last month, Stause spoke with People about her difficult year. In between losing her parents, she also dealt with a very public divorce from This Is Us star Justin Hartley. When comparing her loses, she told the outlet that her breakup could never hurt as much as her parents' passing. "It's almost an ungrievable loss," she said of their deaths. "The other loss [divorce], you can slowly recover and get over," she said. "This one just feels like I’m adapting, as opposed to getting over it."

Follow House Beautiful on Instagram.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io