Cheryl Burke Apologizes for Trash Talking Ian Ziering: 'I Was So Nasty'

Cheryl Burke just offered up a very public mea culpa to Ian Ziering, after trashing him in a 2016 interview.

Burke, who was paired with the "Beverly Hills, 90210" alum during Season 4 of "Dancing with the Stars" back in 2007, expressed regret for her past comments about him on the latest episode of her Pretty Messed Up podcast with AJ McLean.

"The one thing I truly regret and want to make amends with is Ian Ziering," she told the Backstreet Boy. "I was completely out of line a few years ago, and I did a podcast where they were asking me who my favorite partner was and who did I hate the most. And I answered Ian Ziering, and I said something along the lines of 'I'd rather slit my wrists than dance with Ian Ziering again.'"

"I truly am so sorry for being so inconsiderate and just talking trying to get a reaction and putting him as my punching bag really," she continued. "I took it to that next level of nastiness. I was so nasty. And I'm here to publicly apologize to Ian and his family."

"I lost a lot of respect for myself. It haunts me till this day," she added.

Burke first spoke out about Ziering in a 2016 interview with the Allegedly with Theo Von and Matthew Cole Weiss podcast. At the time, they asked her to name her least favorite partner and she didn't hesitate to name Ziering.

After saying the way he pronounces his first name made her "want to throw up," Burke said spending time with him 8-10 hours a day, 7 days a week with him for 3 months "made me want to slit my wrists."

She also said she complained to production and tried to get eliminated. "I was like, 'Hey execs' – I was like crying to the executives – 'Is there any way to force us, to just like eliminate us?'"

That didn't happen and the two wound up making it to fourth place.

Burke did apologize for her choice of words right after that 2016 interview dropped, but only in regards to the "slit my wrists" comment.

"I've always lived by the rule that if you don’t have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. Recently and regrettably, I broke that rule," she said. "In the heat of an interview conversation, I used a phrase that seemingly makes light of suicide and I deeply regret it."

"I have many friends and family members that struggle with depression and thoughts of suicide," she added. "To have said something that seemingly makes a mockery of what they've gone through and what they live with is something that I apologize for. I never meant to hurt anyone or to trivialize the topic. I was out of line and for that I apologize."