The broken rib Ricki Lake sustained during her stint on "Dancing With the Stars" wasn't the worst of her woes from her time on the show. After all, the season-13 finalist bounced back from her broken bone enough to finish the competition in third place. The emotional stress she suffered from her "Dancing" days, however, still affects her.
"The 'Dancing With the Stars' thing, I sort of have post-traumatic stress a little bit from it because I haven't been used to that kind of level of fame," Lake confessed during a Wednesday interview on "The Rosie Show." "You know, (fans) root for you, and then there are these expectations. You're on the cover of a magazine. You've lost so much weight, and you want to maintain it, but you're not dancing six hours a day anymore. So, it's just… I felt like I wanted to stay home a lot after it was over. We went to Paris for Christmas, and it was nice not to be noticed, to be under the radar."
But the actress-turned-TV-host-turned-dancer will have to get used to being back in the spotlight. Later this year, she returns to TV with a new syndicated talk show.
"I'm grateful (for 'Dancing), and I loved the experience -- and I think it's great because I'm going to get back to TV in September -- but it was strange," she insisted.
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