A great Aussie love for 90210 star dad Brian Austin Green
When Aussie dancer Sharna Burgess met Brian Austin Green through a mutual friend, she had to ask who he was because she was too young to have watched his hit show Beverly Hills 90201.
Lifestyle
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When Aussie dancer Sharna Burgess said yes to meeting Brian Austin Green through a mutual friend, she had to ask who he was.
She was too young to be a fan of Beverly Hills 90210, Green laughs.
“It’s not that I don’t like it – I’d seen clips of it and what not, but it wasn’t really a show that I had watched much,” she protests when the pair sit down with Insider while in Sydney last week, for Green’s first time in Australia.
“We had a mutual friend that was introducing us and she went through the whole thing of ‘I’ve got someone I want you to meet’ and when she said ‘Brian Austin Green’, I was like, ‘who’s that?’.
“So I looked him up and I was like, of course, I know his face. Of course I know who that is – but I wasn’t necessarily a big fan of 90210.
“And I still say I’m gonna go back and watch and watch it because everyone raves about it.”
Burgess had been living in LA for 13 years filming America’s Dancing With The Stars when the chance meeting changed everything.
Their first date, over coffee, lasted five hours because they talked non-stop. Five dates later their first kiss cemented the chemistry, which saw them paired together in season 30 of Dancing With The Stars in 2021.
Today, Green is in Sydney for the first time to support Burgess, who is happily back on home turf to judge Channel 7’s local version of Dancing With The Stars.
It’s been a big few years for the couple, who share their adorable almost one-year-old son Zane.
“We honestly tried to take it slow, really we did,” Burgess laughs.
“It took five days before we even kissed for the first time.
“We really wanted to move slowly and not label things, especially Bri and having kids and coming out of a divorce and having kids – you don’t want to rush any of those things.
“But once you know, you know.
“To think that we’ve only really been together for three years and how much life has happened in that time – it feels like we’ve been together for a lifetime.
“In the way that we function, the kind of team that we are, the way that we parent together, the way we do life together, feels like we have been together for lifetimes.”
First visit to Australia
Green also has the three children he shares with megastar Megan Fox in tow. His eldest, at 21, stayed home in LA – but the new blended family have some grand plans for seeing their new second home.
Climbing the Harbour Bridge – although a height-averse Burgess isn’t easily persuaded for that one – going to Australia Zoo to hang with friend and fellow dancer Bindi Irwin and Zane’s new friend, Bindi’s daughter Grace.
A day with Burgess’ cousins in Surfer’s Paradise, exploring the sights of Vivid in Sydney and taking in all the city has to offer. Maybe even Roar and Snore at our own Taronga Zoo.
“The kids love Australia,” he says.
“They were super excited to come and it’s an amazing opportunity to come under these circumstances and be able to see all the things that we’re here to see and experience everything.”
Green feels the same, saying they’re in the head space of saying yes to everything, and really experiencing life. Gesturing to the view of Sydney’s iconic harbour from where they are staying in Mosman, it’s clear he’s blown away by Burgess’ home city.
“Life is just kind of fun right now,” he says.
“I mean, I turn 50 this year, and I did so many things in my younger life that I took for granted.
“So now I’m in a place which is really beautiful.
“We met at a really unique time too, in our lives. Sharna had been single for five years, I had come out of my marriage, it was Covid, so everything was locked down. So if you were spending time with somebody, it was literally like just you two – the rest didn’t exist.
“It just lent itself to us really learning what paths we were on in life, and it all just made sense.
“It was like, oh, we are absolutely on the same path, in different ways – you have different interests than I do, but we have the same goals in mind, so why do I want to do this by myself?
“And we would talk for hours.”
Blended family
But a strong connection was only the first hurdle. Introducing Burgess to his kids terrified Green.
“We were really concerned about it first, because after Megan and I divorced, the kids love her so much, there’s that thing of ‘God, is this going to work?’,” he tells Insider.
“So Sharna and I had met and spent time together and talked and all of that, and it seemed so great – but then it’s like, god if I bring around and my kids don’t want her around, what do you do? You do have to f**king move on.
“There’s no other solution to that.
“And when I say that our relationship was met with zero resistance – from anyone – from the kids, from friends, from fans – I mean it.
“People were so thrilled that we were together, and the kids were the same way.
“As soon as we found out that Sharna was pregnant, the kids were just so excited. They couldn’t wait and were hands on through everything, trying to be as helpful as they possibly can, constantly kissing on him and holding him and talking to him.
“They want to be the first ones in the room to say good morning to him when he wakes up.”
Divorce is always a minefield for children, he says – it’s how you navigate the uncharted territory that counts.
“I think people make the mistake of trying to deal with a divorce in a way where they feel like, ‘oh, the kids won’t be affected by it’ – which isn’t really possible,” he says.
“I don’t think kids cannot be affected by it.
“I think the only choice in the matter that you have is how your kids are affected by it.
“If they’re affected because it’s just this really tumultuous, tough situation – or it’s as harmonious as it possibly can be, and you surround them with new people.
“And I mean, now for them having Sharna in their lives and having holidays and all of that – they look at it as such a blessing.
“They just absolutely love it. There’s no competition between her and Megan.”
Beverly Hills 90210
And while 90210 was a huge part of his life, Green wishes he was older at the time, and wise enough to appreciate the time more.
“It was a long time ago. I was 17 when it started and it was an amazing time of my life,” he says.
“It’s funny coming out of something as big as that was, your first inclination is to kind of separate yourself from it, and be like ‘OK, well, I don’t want to really talk about that so much, because now I want to talk about these new things I’m doing’.
“And now, at my age … now I can really look back on it fondly.
“It was an amazing experience, and we had tons of opportunities and really amazing things that happened – I wish that I wasn’t so young, because I took so much for granted.
“But it’s amazing to come to Australia for the first time ever, and have people that were like, ‘we watched all 10 seasons of the show’ – it’s amazing.”
‘Beautiful home life’
Today, life is still Hollywood – but a slower version. They’re both homebodies and will choose reading bedtime stories over late nights out. It’s easy to get caught up in that world, they reason – so they don’t.
“Life is pretty quiet outside of the industry,” he says.
“We barbecue a lot.
“We have people come over that are really close friends, almost family – and the three kids are in school, so we’re waking up in the morning, packing breakfast and going to school events and picking them up and after school activities, reading before bed – and we love doing that.
“We always joke that we kind of turn into pumpkins around like 8.30pm – I’m exhausted by 8.30pm, I hit a wall,” he laughs.
The night before meeting Insider, Green had been at a Dancing With The Stars taping until after midnight – a late night for both of them.
“We love a really connected, beautiful home life,” Burgess continues.
“We both lived that life of going out and entertaining, or being entertained, and you doing all those things that you can do a lot of in LA when you’re in the industry – and we have no desire for that anymore.
“I love bedtime reading and making lunches in the morning, and I love sharing all those things, and when we sit down to dinners at home, and the kids tell us about their day at school – they’re the things that means so much to me.
“It’s like life just progressed into this flow – and it’s felt for me, like the easiest thing I’ve ever done.
“Since meeting Bri and us blending our worlds together, and our families, and creating Zane and just sharing this life together, it’s honestly felt very easy and comfortable from the minute we sat down for coffee that first day.”
Life of adventure
But there’s still a bit of adventure too. They’ve cage dived with great white sharks off the coast of Mexico – something Burgess would do another 10 times before attempting to conquer her fear of heights with something like climbing the Harbour Bridge – but high on the bucket list is to explore the world, and push themselves.
“We both travelled so much for work – I’ve toured the world, but I’ve not really seen enough of it at the same time – so we talked about bucket list things, and that’s how shark diving came up,” Burgess says.
“And we have a load more things on our bucket list that we want to experience together, and some of that is thrill-based – I don’t know if I will ever climb the bridge or jump out of a plane, but I certainly know he wants me to,” she laughs.
Returning home
She’s lived in America for so long it’s home, moving her mum over from Sydney when Zane came into the world last July – but she loves coming home.
“It’s just so wonderful working with a team of Aussies – but at the same time, America and Dancing With The Stars over there really started my career, and I’ve built such a great foundation and body of work over there, so I love that I’ve got both places,” she says.
“And it also led me to meet Bri, and have my family now – and because of me they get to come here, to the best country in the world.
“But because, of course, we have a big family, our life will always be based in America, but we plan to come here as often as we can.
“It’s been the most wonderful experience to come home and work with some of the dancers I’ve known since I was a kid growing up here, babies in the ballroom dancing world, competing against each other.
“And it’s beautiful to see them now grown and doing the thing with their careers or dance studios and doing so well on the show – to be a part of Dancing With The Stars over here as a judge feels really special.
“I’ve been a dancer on it for 13 years in America and I have so much to offer as far as experience and knowledge, and to be able to come here and share that and share my love of it.
“And I can deeply relate to what they’re going through … I’ve experienced what it feels like being on the other side of that judges table and how critiques and praise can feel and what you need.”
Little Zane turns one next month, and looks just like his famous dad.
“It’s like I birthed Brian Austin Green the second,” Burgess laughs.
“He’s such an easy baby, and he has been from the minute he came out … he is such an old soul.
“You get this idea that he’s definitely done this before.”
Green agrees.
“When he looked around the room when he was born – he looked around with that sense of, ‘oh, I’m here again’,” he says.
“The kids are obsessed with him – they are such fans of this … we are super lucky.”
They want to come back to Australia as often as they can – if not just for the Tim Tams, he laughs – although Vegemite, he’ll happily leave.
“That was one of the worst moments of my life,” he cringes.
“Well, that’s a little dramatic,” she laughs.
“I want to come back here as often as we can, and certainly I would love to come back and do Dancing with the Stars again, so I hope we get to do it again next year and make another big family trip out – I love sharing this with them.
“As Aussies, we’re a different breed of people.
“We are so chill and laid back, and everything has a very different energy about it.
“We have a different vibe – so now they’re like, ‘oohhhhh, that’s where she comes from’ – and I think that’s so cool, that I’m sharing all my favourite things.
“The Arnotts biscuits, Burger Rings, red frogs, Cherry Ripes … yesterday we had scones with double cream – something else they don’t have in the States.”
Burgess even makes them chocolate crackles, using Copha she has to get shipped over from Australia.
“So Sharna does a thing where she goes online and orders a bunch of Australian favourites and a box will show up, and it’s like Tim Tams and Monte Carlos and all this stuff, so we’re we were sort of like test dummies,” Green says.
“She just sits us down and she’s like, ’OK, try this, you try this’.”
And she loves it as much as they do.
“I bring Australia to LA as often as I can – but to bring them to Australia is even better,” she says.
“And there’s some really exciting things lined up for us, too.
“We’ve got a podcast in the works that we’re going to be starting up very soon, Dancing With the Stars in the States is going to come up again, and Bri’s got a bunch of work lined up. “But then it’s the unknown things that come up for us that always end up being so exciting.”
The future
So what’s next?
“We’re at the point now where we try and say yes to as many things as we can, and we just experience life, and if we have the opportunity to bring the kids and the family then we do – it’s a bonus,” he says.
“This is the bonus.
“I’ve always had such a hard time understanding celebrity and what comes along with it.
“But then you have these experiences, and you go ‘God, this is one of the perks’.
“I mean, look at this view.
“This is the fun stuff.
“You work to make money to support the lifestyle and the family that you have, and then these amazing opportunities come up – we’re not here just for the money of it, it’s for the experience.
“It’s for meeting people and seeing the city – although the plane ride was a bit rough though and the streets here in the city are a f**king nightmare,” he laughs.
Dancing With The Stars premieres on Seven next Sunday, June 18
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