If Drew Lachey was a betting man, he’d put money on Shawn Johnson and partner Derek Hough to take home the coveted Mirror Ball trophy on the current all-star season of Dancing with the Stars.
He would know. Lachey and partner Cheryl Burke won season two of the dancing show and he was such a fan favorite that he was invited back for more fancy footwork — although he and current partner Anna Trebunskaya were booted off this week.
“It’s way up on a shelf because chunks of mirror fall off it all the time,” he says. “So I have to keep it away from my kids. It’s a choking hazard.”
Now that he’s done dancing, at least on TV, Lachey says he’s heading to the studio with his old 98 Degrees bandmates, including brother Nick, after a 12-year hiatus. The hunky crooner says he hopes the band will go on tour with new material as early as next year.
But will the boy band pack the same heat all these years later
“Yeah, well we’re more an old man band now,” he jokes. “But It’s about making good music that we’re proud of. We’re not going to suddenly start putting out dance tracks.
Lachey, who moved his kids and wife from Los Angeles to Cinncinnati, Ohio to escape the LA’s celebrity culture, says while he loved being a part of the ABC dancing competition, he would never allow camera in to his home for a full blown reality show.
“We’ve been approached for the past 8 years and it’s been something that we struggle with,” he says. “Obviously you see people with a lot of success doing the reality shows and to me the rewards don’t outweigh the risks when doing it,” says Lachey, whose older brother Nick famously taped “Newlyweds” for MTV with then wife Jessica Simpson. His marriage ended with a very public divorce.
I’m very protective of my family and don’t want my kids growing up like that,” he said. “We moved to Ohio to try and give them a normal childhood — we’ll keep our private lives private.”
His personal style, just like his attitude, is easy-going, relaxed and charming. Lachey showed up to an NYDN Style fashion shoot in a button-down shirt, jeans, and severly-beat up boots that looked like they’d been through a war.
Turns out, they kind of had. He says the once black combat boots, worn to perfection with just the right amount of weathering and fading, were issued to him by the U.S. Army when he showed up for basic training in 1994 — and served in the armed forces.
“Can you tell my wife you like them?” he asked, when we worked his shoes in to the fashion shoot.
Consider it done
Proud pop Lachey picked up his daughter and performed a series of swing dancing lifts before the cutie stole the show with her own dancing skills. She mugged for the camera as she busted a move with break dancing-style kicks, splits, and shimmies. She even pumped up the audience as she clapped her hands over her head while Lachey clapped along.
