'Dancing with the Stars' couple Jenna Johnson and Val Chmerkovskiy expecting first child

Dancing with the Stars pros Jenna Johnson and Val Chmerkovskiy have revealed they are expecting their first child together.


Jenna, 28, is almost heading into her second trimester, and she and Val, 36, are anticipating their baby's arrival in January 2023.

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"We got home [from a trip to Cabo] and about two weeks later I was like, 'Wait a minute, my boobs are feeling very big and very sore. I haven't started my period yet.' So I peed on a stick and immediately it just turned positive," Jenna told People.

"The shock and just disbelief was insane. I couldn't believe it because it wasn't an easy journey for us to get pregnant."


She continued, "But everybody tells you, 'When you just relax and you don't put the stress on yourself, it happens for you.' That's exactly what happened."

Jenna said her pregnancy and the timing of it was exactly "meant to be."

"Our little baby was created with a lot of love. It all seems so magical and meant to be," Jenna gushed.

Jenna attempted to share the news with her husband in a memorable way.

"I went and I got these little Baby Jordans, these white sneakers," Jenna revealed.


"I put them in a box that was his size of Nikes. So he didn't expect anything. Then I put two little pregnancy tests in there. I had been shaking at home waiting for him to come home. So he nonchalantly walked in."

Jenna said "ironically enough," Val walked into their house with a bag of Nike sneakers.

"I was like, 'Did you go shopping today?' He was like, 'Yeah, I got myself some new sneakers.' I'm like, 'No way. I got some too today,'" Jenna recalled.

"He came over and chucked off the lid of the box and started rummaging through it. He looked at the shoes and was like, 'How small are these sneakers?' Then it hit him and his face... it was priceless."

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Jenna admitted her first trimester of being pregnant was "a scary time," but she's trying to remain positive.

"There's so many things that can go wrong, potentially," Jenna reasoned.

"I just have taken this time to really relax and try to stay calm and keep my body healthy -- which has been hard, because I'm a really active person. I love to work out. I love to dance."

Jenna added, "But I've just made it a priority for myself to really make a shift and to prioritize the baby and what was happening and all of these new changes."

Jenna said it was very helpful for her to find peace and not to be "so busy and insanely active."


"I think I'm just giving my body the necessary rest. I think that's the best thing I can do for myself. It's also just taught me that I can be okay with downtime. I don't need to overwork myself," Jenna explained.

Jenna, who has a noticeable baby bump, is also excited about the changes her body is going through.

"Every day when I look in the mirror and I get bigger and bigger, it just hits me what's happening," the dancer and choreographer said.

"I just think I try to find ways to be super grateful and find moments of gratitude."

In fact, Jenna started a little gratitude journal in which she writes down what's happening in her body as well as what she's liked and disliked.


Jenna apparently jots down "just how magical the experience is" and said being grateful on a daily basis has been "really helpful" for her.

"Val is just so funny in this whole experience. He is obsessed with my body growing. He's just obsessed with everything. The boobs, the butt, the belly. So for him to be so sweet and positive about my body, has just made me feel so beautiful," Jenna gushed.

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As for pregnany cravings, Jenna said she wants fruit, pickles -- and those items "in abundance."

"Watermelon. Mangoes. Papaya. Pineapple. I could probably pound hundreds of them in one sitting. As well, smoothies. Cold smoothies always sounded good. Now, I would say my cravings are pickles. Seriously, I could crack open a jar of pickles at any time of the day and be so stoked," Jenna said.

While Jenna and Val have many exciting milestones ahead of them Jenna admitted she's most looking forward to watching Val become a first-time father.


"If he is anything like he is as a husband, he's going to be the best dad in the world," Jenna gushed. "He is so selfless and loving. Between the two of us, is by far the more patient one. So I think, all of these little attributes are going to just make him an incredible dad.'"

Jenna also told People that Val is "the best" when he's around little kids and is "always the favorite uncle."

"Everybody wants to play with him or do something with him," Jenna shared. "He's just the best. He just knows how to speak to them and how to handle them. How to make them feel so confident and excited."

Jenna said Val hopes to return to Dancing with the Stars on Disney+ this Fall but Jenna plans to continue to focus on her health and the well-being of her baby.

Jenna was apparently already pregnant when she told Us Weekly in late June that it bothers her when fans ask about whether she's going to expand her family and when she's going to have a baby.

"I think it's a really insensitive question, actually, because... you never know what somebody is going through," Jenna complained at the time.


"And the amount of DMs and comments -- you know, 'babies on the brain' and 'when are you going to have a baby?' -- it adds pressure but also it's nobody's business."

Jenna said although she is in the public eye, people have "no idea what [she's] gone through."

"[People don't know] what we want in the future," Jenna explained, speaking on behalf of Val as well.

Meanwhile, Jenna's sister-in-law Peta Murgatroyd, who is married to Val's brother and Dancing with the Stars alum Maksim Chmerkovskiy, has been trying to conceive Baby No. 2.

Peta, who has served as a professional partner on Dancing with the Stars on and off since 2011, recently broke the news to People that she had three miscarriages in two years while trying to give her five-year-old son Shai a sibling.

Jenna and Val began dating in 2015 and the Ukrainian native proposed marriage in Venice, Italy, in 2018.


Val and Jenna tied the knot on April 13, 2019 in a romantic ceremony overlooking the ocean at the Terranea Resort in Rancho Palo Verdes, CA.

"Mr. & Mrs. Chmerkovskiy 04~13~2019," Jenna captioned a wedding photo that she shared on Instagram.

Prior to joining Dancing with the Stars as a Troupe member and then being promoted to a pro partner for Season 23, Jenna competed as a contestant and All-Star partner on separate seasons of So You Think You Can Dance.

Jenna won Dancing with the Stars' 26th season with Adam Rippon and placed second on the show twice before with Nev Schulman and JoJo Siwa on Seasons 29 and 30, respectively.

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Val won Dancing with the Stars twice in his 17 seasons on the show. He won Season 20 with actress Rumer Willis and Season 23 with Laurie Hernandez. Val has also finished in second place before, and he's finished in third a total of four times.


Dancing with the Stars' upcoming edition will feature the return of Tyra Banks as host, actor Alfonso Ribeiro serving as co-host, and Derek Hough, Len Goodman, Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli sitting on the judging panel.







About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski