Love Equaled Physical Violence: Cheryl Burke talks about childhood trauma

Cheryl Burke has been vocal about how her experience with childhood trauma and how has affected the relationships in her life.

She now understood that to move on toward a brighter, healthier future, she should find a way to deal with her past.

The former Dancing with the Stars pro, 38, has come to terms with her previous actions.

"I unconsciously fell into the pattern of falling for the same type of men which were abusive, non-available, non-committal, infidelity, all of that," she said on Tuesday's episode of the Allison Interviews podcast.

"I now, through the years of therapy, I have been able to understand why."

She mostly blames these tendencies on "no constant father figure" in her life and being sexually assaulted as a child by "an older retired mailman."

"My definition of love was not real," she explained.

"To me, love equaled infidelity, love equaled being treated like [expletive], love equaled physical violence, love equaled mental abuse."

If a "nice man" came into her life, she noted, she'd instantly shrink, and "I wouldn't understand why I felt so disgusted with that."

Now she knew why: "It was because I didn't have that as a little girl."

Burke has made an effort to dispel the association between frailty and kindness in her thoughts, yet she admitted:

"I'm a work in progress until the day I die."