Jana Kramer Opens Up About Physical Abuse on “Dancing With the Stars” as She Performs Contemporary Dance to “In My Daughter’s Eyes”

Posted on October 11, 2016

There wasn’t a dry eye in the house last night (Oct. 10) during Week 5 of Dancing With the Stars where the theme of the night was your most memorable year.

Each of the nine remaining contestants—Vanilla Ice and Babyface Edmonds were sent home in a double-elimination last week—picked the most memorable year of their lives and a song that went along with that year. Jana Kramer chose 2016 as her most memorable year—the year her daughter Jolie Rae was born—and danced to “In My Daughter’s Eyes” by Martina McBride.

“My most memorable year is 2016 because I had my baby girl, Jolie Rae,” Jana said during her introduction package. “I feel like since I’ve had Jolie I’m the strongest I’ve ever been in my entire life. She has completely given me strength that I didn’t even know was possible for me to have. And I have unfortunately been in situations where I have let people take that away from me.

“Ten years ago I was in an abusive relationship,” Jana continued. “It was the worst time of my life. He went to jail for attempted murder on me. It’s been a very heavy secret to hold for so many years. The situation 10 years ago essentially broke me. It took having Jolie to really piece together every broken part of me. We are dancing to ‘In My Daughters Eyes’ by Martina McBride and we are doing a contemporary routine. Every lyric that Martina sings in this song relates to my daughter. I never want my daughter to ever go through any of the things that I went through,” Jana said through tears. “I never want her to question that she’s not good enough and I want my daughter to know that no man should ever put their hands on her . . . because she’s beautiful.”

jana-kramer-dwts_6714-400x599Jana went on to perform one of the most heartfelt contemporary dances of the night, scoring 26 out of 30 points. Jana received a 9 from Carrie Ann Inaba, 8 from Julianne Hough and 9 from Bruno Tonioli.

“First of all, thank you for setting such a wonderful example for all women and for your beautiful daughter, Jolie,” Carrie Ann said. “It was evident in every movement that you expressed today, especially that drop, showing that kind of courage. I know it’s difficult. What was fantastic about this is that it was like a breakthrough for you tonight for you. Everything was bigger. It’s like you finally danced with that beauty that we’ve all known and that all your lines were extended and just beautiful.”

At the end of the show, host Tom Bergeron announced that there would be no elimination this week. All the stars will return next Monday (Oct. 17) to dance for Latin night on Dancing with the Stars. But you still have to vote. Tonight’s votes combined with the judges scores will determine who is eliminated from next week’s show (Oct. 17-18). Until then, Jana is safe to dance another week.

To keep Jana dancing on the show, call 1-800-868-3406 to vote immediately following the airing of the show, or vote online up to 24 hours after the show. You can see Jana and Gleb do their thing on Dancing With The Stars each Monday and Tuesday night at 7 p.m. CT on ABC.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWfpM6g-MkM

Photos by Eric McCandless/ABC

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