‘DWTS’ Pro Karina Smirnoff Talks About Her Relationship Issues As Ex-Fiance Maks Chmerkovskiy Weds Peta

Karina Smirnoff has been vocal about her relationship woes—the veteran Dancing with the Stars pro dancer not only had two very public broken engagements, but she put her love life in front of the cameras on E!’s Famously Single. But now, Karina says she has figured out what went wrong in her past relationships.

Just a few days after her former Dancing With the Stars fiance, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, walked down the aisle in a fairytale wedding with fellow DWTS pro, Peta Murgatroyd, Smirnoff told Fox News the biggest thing she learned from her reality TV therapy sessions with E!’s resident therapist, Dr. Darcy Sterling, is that “you can’t let anyone change you.”

“I think a strong woman needs a strong man, and vice versa,” Karina told Fox. “I’ve learned more than anything that you can’t let anyone change you. And you can’t expect anyone else to change. You just have to be happy with who that person is… And they have to let you be you.”

Karina Smirnoff revealed that in the past she spent too much time trying to “fine tune” her exes to try to get them to be the person she wanted them to be instead of just focusing on building a life together.

“I always found in my past it’s like, ‘I love you, but can you do this instead?’ But… it never works,” Karina said.

In addition to her failed engagement to Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Karina was previously engaged to MLB pitcher Brad Penny. Smirnoff also ended things with her former fiance, Jason Adelman, last year.

In an interview with People, Karina Smirnoff blamed herself for her failed relationships. While Karina acknowledged that she had “a good life with men,” she admitted she needed therapy.

“I’ve gotten to the point where it’s not embarrassing,” Karina said. “I need therapy. I need to fix myself.”

Of course, Dancing With the Stars shippers were most interested in Smirnoff’s relationship with Chmerkovskiy. Smirnoff revealed to Pop Eater that her engagement to Maks ended because they couldn’t agree on their wedding plans.

“A woman is supposed to plan the wedding, but it got to the point where it was just too much, especially with me working on Dancing With The Stars,” Karina told the celebrity site. “[Maks] joked that he was going to have to plan it all, tell me the wedding date and just have me show up with my hair and make-up ready.”

Maksim Chmerkovskiy ultimately married fellow DWTS pro, Peta Murgatroyd, last weekend. The couple exchanged vows in a fairytale setting at Oheka Castle on Long Island, with a rainbow punctuating Peta’s picture-perfect day.

As for the lovelorn Karina Smirnoff, the 39-year-old beauty has said she is now at the point where she wants to be a wife and a mother. In 2014, Karina told ABC News that she decided to freeze her eggs so that she would have the option to become a mother later in life. Only time will tell if she’ll still be Famously Single.

Take a look at the video below for more on Karina Smirnoff’s relationship with Maksim Chmerkovskiy.

[Featured Image by Jerod Harris/Getty Images for GBK Productions]