Stephanie Webber
Season 32 “Dancing With the Stars” partners Mauricio Umansky and Emma Slater didn’t address romance speculation after they were photographed holding hands in Beverly Hills. However, they did finally break their silence once his estranged wife, Kyle Richards, publicly said she was “hurt” by their actions.
“For full clarity we are not dating,” Umansky, 53, shared in an Instagram Story video on Thursday. “We’ve been dancing together now for six weeks, four hours a day every single day.”
He added: “We’re really good friends.”
Slater, 34, chimed in, noting that the ABC dancing competition can be “intense” and they’ve grown a “very special bond” because of that.
Hours earlier, the “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star, 54, was asked about their rumored romance during an appearance on “Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen.”
“That was very hard to see,” she said to host Cohen, 55, and fellow guest Teddi Mellencamp. “Yeah that was, I mean, yes, that hurt my feelings. I love him very much, and we are amicable, but that really did hurt me.”
She added: “I mean, holding hands like that. I mean, Andy… I really don’t — why are you doing this to me? I just don’t think you hold hands like that [if you’re friends].”
In July, Umansky and Richards announced they were separated after 27 years of marriage. Once the photos of Umansky and Slater surfaced, Richards deleted an Instagram post she shared supporting the “DWTS” duo amid their ballroom journey.
This post was originally posted by NYPost
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