Over the weekend, celebrity chef Giada De Laurentiis showed off the aftermath of her rigorous training for the 35th season of ABC’s Dancing With the Starson Instagram. The 56-year-old, who’s set to compete on the show with pro dancer Alan Bersten when the new season debuts later this month, revealed that she injured her big toe.
“So, I had a great day at rehearsals today. But sadly, I busted my toe. Take a look. There’s my toe,” De Laurentiis explained in the video while recovering on her couch. “So, you can see, it’s quite purple, and it wraps all the way around. I’m for sure gonna lose my toenail, I think.”
Perhaps realizing the injury was too subtle to show up on camera, she added a helpful animated arrow to point it out. The moment is captured below. Trigger warning for those of us who are alarmed by grisly injuries or feet with very long toenails.
However, De Laurentiis is a professional celebrity, by god! She plans to soldier on, despite her bruised toe and the possible, devastating loss of her toenail.
“Anyway, I don’t know. It hurts, but we’ll figure it out tomorrow,” the heroic celebrity managed. “Part of the game,” she added, ever the trooper.
“You know what they say… no pain, no gain,” De Laurentiis wrote in the caption of her post.
Moved by her impossibly huge force of will, fans and fellow celebs took to the comments section to show their support for the former Giada at Home star.
“You are officially a dancer now!” longtime Dancing With the Stars judge Carrie Ann Inaba wrote. “Get used to it lol! I’ve been taking ballroom dance lessons for over four years and I barely have any toe nails left 😂,” one fan weighed in.
“ouch! hope it all heals well soon! can’t wait to see what you guys have been working on in rehearsals!” another fan added.
Meanwhile, the cast of ABC’s Dancing With the Stars season 35 is pretty stacked. Perhaps the biggest get is actress Julia Stiles, joined by celebs like Fresh Prince of Bel-Air star Tatyana Ali, musician Taylor Hanson (yes, of “MMMBop” fame), and Jimmy Kimmel’s longtime sidekick, Guillermo Rodriguez.
The upcoming season waltzes onto the air on Sept. 15 on ABC.