Former “Dancing With the Stars” pro Maks Chmerkovskiy recently admitted to one of his parenting fails. Chmerkovskiy’s son, Rio, fell into their pool, and although Rio was unharmed, the dancer said he could have handled the situation better.
Maks Chmerkovskiy Recalls His ‘Parenting Fail’
Chmerkovskiy and Peta Murgatroyd are busy parents to three kids — Shai, Rio, and Milan — and an occasional parenting oops is bound to happen.
In a June 2025 interview with Us Weekly, Chmerkovskiy recalled when their son Rio fell into the pool, noting that it was a “parenting choice until it happened and then I realized it was a fail.”
He said he didn’t think Rio “learned his lesson,” however, because he “likes jumping in the pool” now.
“Rio was walking around the pool and I was on top of him because I knew that he’s about to fall into the pool and I wanted him to learn his lesson, but I wasn’t really sure where this was going,” Chmerkovskiy said.
He added, “But I was ready. I waited until he fell in the pool and I fished him out.”
The former “DWTS” pro admitted that it wasn’t a great move and his wife was certainly freaked out.
“I think that would qualify as the parenting fail,” he admitted. “Not only did I let it happen, Peta almost had a heart attack. I thought it was hilarious. He thought it was hilarious. And now the whole thing backfired.”
Are Peta Murgatroyd & Maks Chmerkovskiy Done Having Kids?
While Chmerkovskiy said he would love to have a girl, he thinks his wife isn’t on board with having more children.
“Peta is definitely not going to let it happen out of her body anymore. She’s like, ‘This is not going to come out of this,'” he explained.
Chmerkovskiy added, “I don’t understand these other processes as well at the moment. I’m just not the guy because we don’t have to and I don’t want to force this at all.”
In an interview with Us Weekly, Murgatroyd said it’s unlikely she’ll carry another child. “I think it’s fair to say [I’m done], yeah,” she said. “I think my body, just doing the back-to-back with the two babies, it was a lot — not just physically, but mentally.”
She also noted that the demands of having three children make it hard to give enough of yourself as a mom.
“I want to be able to give my all to my children and I feel like, right now, I’m struggling to do that with three,” she admitted.
Murgatroyd added, “If I had one more, I would feel guilty that I’m just not being a good enough mom to them all.”
