Emma Slater has broken her silence about the end of her marriage to fellow Dancing With the Stars pro Sasha Farber.
“We’re still like family, so it isn’t really like the love is not there, it’s actually not that at all,” Slater, 34, said during the Tuesday, August 15, episode of the “Viall Files” podcast. “We’re just at potentially two different places. But the hard part was that the love actually didn’t go [away].”
The British dance pro explained that she and Farber, 39, are “still very much in the thick” of navigating the proceedings. Us Weekly confirmed in February that Slater had filed for divorce, citing “irreconcilable differences” as the cause of their split.
“It’s really the kid thing,” she confessed to host Nick Viall of the reason for pulling the plug on her marriage. “It’s interesting because I do want to have kids, I just don’t want to delay Sasha’s path in having kids because I know that he is ready for that. I don’t want to talk about him too much because that’s really for him to say, but it’s about kids.”
She continued: “I do want kids. I don’t know what it is, I’m just figuring that out for myself. It’s not something I take lightly and I don’t want to enter into something that I’m not sure about because I would never do that.”
Slater further explained that she and Farber “did have” conversations about family planning throughout the course of their relationship, but that she felt a “resistance” in the last few years. “So, that’s been the real friction and the real hard part,” she said. “It had nothing to do with him. He’s always been very much himself. It’s me that’s found it difficult to understand why I’m feeling different.”
Slater and Farber wed in March 2018 after several years of dating. Us broke the news in August 2022 that the pair had separated that April.
“They’ve been apart for many months now,” a source exclusively told Us at the time. “They both have not been wearing their wedding rings and are each leading a single life. It’s been a difficult time since they really care about each other and have been together for so long.”
Slater and Farber continued working together as fellow choreographers on DWTS. Slater even sang Farber and his partner Selma Blair’s praises after their emotional first performance during season 31.
“[My face] was streaming with tears. It’s just something that is so indescribable,” she told Us and other reporters in September 2022. “To look at her and to say she’s an inspiration is an understatement. She is just magical to me. … Look, she’s actually living out her fear. And I know that took a lot of courage. I can’t even imagine what a true inspiration she is to a lot of people. I feel blessed that she’s on the show.”
As Slater and Farber continued to navigate their new normal as amicable exes, she has not started dating again — but does know what she wants in a future partner.
“There is none,” Slater quipped when asked about her love life. “Honestly, I have visions of a guy walking into my life … I see like a tall guy with, like, blue eyes and, maybe, British or someone. Like, that would be ideal. I don’t know why that’s coming to my head. [And] blonde. I don’t know a guy like that.”
Viall, 42, chimed in: “So, the exact opposite of your ex.”
While Slater laughed at the former Bachelor’s remark, she noted that it really has “nothing to do” with Farber. “So, Sash I absolutely love and I think he’s gorgeous and I just have so much respect for him, but it’s more of [that] I just see this vision,” she explained.
Slater also noted how being a public figure impacted how she grieved the end of her marriage. “I think having a relationship in the public eye is so hard and it’s really difficult when you’re trying to navigate how you feel and you’re trying to keep that respect for your relationship when everyone has an opinion,” the mirrorball champ said. “Privacy is something that I really, really value and moving forward I think that’s something I’m gonna try to keep with my partner.”
