‘We totally put our relationship first’: Sharna Burgess and Brian Austin Green
Dancing With The Stars judge Sharna Burgess and actor Brian Austin Green talk about their blended family, as Green reflects on the heartbreaking deaths of two of his 90210 co-stars.
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Playing status-seeking David Silver in 1990s young adult drama Beverly Hills, 90210 won Brian Austin Green a legion of fans around the world.
His now fiancée Sharna Burgess wasn’t one of them.
In fact, when the couple’s mutual business manager arranged a blind date between the Australian dancer and Hollywood actor in October 2020, Burgess admits she Googled the former teen heart-throb.
“I didn’t recognise the name, but I certainly knew the face when I looked him up,” Burgess tells Stellar, laughing.
“I didn’t really watch 90210 when I was a kid. I had seen little bits here and there, but I wasn’t a fan girl. Which is a good thing, because you don’t want to turn up to a first date to meet a fan girl.”
They hit it off straight away, but Green was hesitant about starting a new relationship just five months after separating from his wife of 10 years, actor Megan Fox.
However, the normally nomadic pair were forced to stay in one place due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and got to know each other better.
By January 2021 they had become Instagram official, and in September of that year they entered the US version of Dancing With The Stars as a bona fide couple.
“It was an amazing opportunity for me to see what dance is in her world, and understand the training and the discipline that goes into it,” Green tells Stellar.
Burgess had never dated one of her celebrity dance partners before, so being Green’s instructor presented a new challenge.
“As a pro, I could be quite a drill sergeant,” she explains of working with previous contestants such as Backstreet Boy Nick Carter and IndyCar racer James Hinchcliffe, both second-place finishers. “I would demand perfection, long hours, extra hours … And sometimes, if a person needed some tough love, I’d give it to them,” she adds. “But with Bri, I never stepped into that space.”
Going softer on Green, Burgess reflects, led to their elimination in the fourth week. “I would have got him all the way – he absolutely had the potential,” she insists.
“But we totally put our relationship first the whole way through, because it was always more important to us.”
As a testament to that bond, Green’s 23-year-old son Kassius, who he shares with his Beverly Hills, 90210 co-star Vanessa Marcil, and his children with Fox – Noa, 12, Bodhi, 11, and eight-year-old Journey – all welcomed Burgess warmly to their family. She gave birth to the couple’s son Zane in June 2022.
“Having Zane has absolutely bonded everyone together,” Burgess says.
“I was always incredibly close with the kids as our relationship grew, but when Zane came along, it was like that piece locked in where they were, like, ‘Oh, this is forever.’”
On July 15, 2023, Burgess threw Green a surprise party for his 50th birthday; he surprised her in turn with a marriage proposal later that night – with an assist from the kids.
Now the clan make extended visits to Sydney each year to support Burgess in her role as a judge on Dancing With The Stars Australia.
“It’s been really, really cool, especially after being away for such a long time,” says LA-based Burgess, who grew up in Wagga Wagga in regional New South Wales.
“We’ve loved the beach time,” she adds. “Bri and two of the kids climbed the Harbour Bridge – they loved it. The photo we have in our kitchen is massive smiles and wind-
swept hair. It’s the cutest thing.”
“Australia is amazing,” Green enthuses. “I love it. We kick around the idea of having a second home here. But having a blended family does not make things easy.”
While Kassius no longer lives with the family, Burgess manages the schedules of the four younger ones with the help of her mother and Green’s – and some “ intense” spreadsheets. She has also learned to temper her dedication to work. One time when a taping of an episode of Dancing With The Stars was running late, “I had to say [to producers], ‘I’m sorry, but I lose childcare at 6pm. I cannot stay here until 8pm’,” she recalls.
“It was really hard to say ‘no’ to a job that I was always saying ‘yes’ to, and all the feelings that come with that. But I’m also not going to leave my kids with no-one to take care of them. So, the decision’s made for me. When you’re a parent, they’re always going to come first.”
To that end, Green and Burgess encourage their children to pursue their passions: Kassius already has several acting credits; Noa has an interest in theatre; and Zane has shown a natural sense of rhythm.
But both are wary of pushing them into the spotlight before they are ready. After all, Green was just 17 when Beverly Hills, 90210 made him a celebrity, surrounded by a blur of “screams and fence-shaking, and running and dodging [fans]”.
Likening the experience to Beatlemania, Green says the 90210 cast forged unbreakable bonds because “nobody outside of that experience had an understanding of what it was like the way we did.”
That’s why losing co-stars Luke Perry, who played Dylan McKay, and Shannen Doherty, who played Brenda Walsh, was like “losing a brother and a sister” for Green.
He met Doherty (who died last year from breast cancer) at 13, while he first encountered Perry (who died in 2019 after a catastrophic stroke) shooting a commercial.
In the aftermath of Perry’s death, the remaining cast (including Doherty, who was battling cancer at the time) spent two months in Vancouver filming a 90210 reboot, where they leaned on each other and found new commonalities in middle-age that weren’t apparent in their teens.
“Jason [Priestley, who played Brandon Walsh] summed it up best when we lost Luke,” Green tells Stellar.
“He said, ‘We all know that eventually in life, you’re going to start losing the people you were young with, and who you spent so much time with. But we never imagined that we’d start losing each other at such a young age.’
“Luke’s passing was so incredibly sudden. He was young. He was my age now. And then Shannen passing, too, hit home the concept of: we’re not those kids anymore.
“We’re in a new period of life where we have to really value the relationships with people that we have, and not take things for granted, because it’s unbelievable how fast you can lose something or someone that seemed so invaluable.”
Now Green is focusing on new acting projects, and with his encouragement, Burgess has also branched into movie-making.
The couple recently wrapped horror film The 3 Killer Pigs, and say they are toying with another joint project that would see them play a pair of powerhouse villains. “We’re so down to do things like that with each other, and we have great chemistry, so I think it would be super fun,” Burgess says.
“I was really nervous,” she adds of getting bitten by the acting bug. “But I fell in love with storytelling in a completely different way and realised that so much of what I do in dance actually does translate. It gives me advantages. Disadvantages, too. My acting coach yells at me for pointing my toes in scenes.”
In the meantime, Burgess sits in judgement of Dancing With The Stars contestants she grew up watching on television, such as Rebecca Gibney, and others who will be new to her. Admitting she is not always familiar with the latest Home And Away cast member or AFL player to hit the dancefloor, Burgess says she makes sure to “do my research to find out who they are as a person, and what’s the tea on them”, adding, “I moved to London when I was 18, so it’s fun to be able to dive back into Australian pop culture like this.”
Outside of acting and parenting, the couple are always looking for new and creative ways to spend time together. Green is busy planning a memorable 40th birthday for Burgess, who marks the milestone on June 21, while she holds out hope that a salsa class – or even just a slow dance in the kitchen – is in their future, once they’re out of the trenches of early parenthood.
Birthday celebrations may be welcome, but the prospect of more dance lessons has Green a little less enthused. “Can you imagine how intimidating it is to take a salsa class with her?” he asks with a laugh.
“We are not going into that as equals. And the reality is she will be way better than that person who is teaching the salsa class.”
Dancing With The Stars premieres at 7pm on June 15 on the Seven Network and 7Plus.
Read the full cover shoot and interview with Sharna Burgess and Brian Austin Green inside Stellar, via The Sunday Telegraph (NSW), Sunday Herald Sun (VIC), The Sunday Mail (QLD) and Sunday Mail (SA).
For more from Stellar and the podcast, Something To Talk About, click here.
Originally published as ‘We totally put our relationship first’: Sharna Burgess and Brian Austin Green
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