Hope Solo blasts 'Dancing With the Stars' partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy




It seems like Hope Solo just can't keep from badmouthing people in public. If she's not ripping on former U.S. women's national soccer team alums Briana Scurry (in interviews) or Brandi Chastain (on Twitter), then the 31-year-old is lambasting her Dancing With the Stars pro partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy in her new book. Sound like someone needs to go on a media blackout.

The U.S. goalkeeper said in Solo: A Memoir of Hope that Maksim was a little rough during rehearsal for her season 11 appearance: "He manhandled me in rehearsals from the start, pushing me, whacking my stomach, bending my arms roughly. I thought that was just how it went -- how dancers worked with each other," she said, according to Us Weekly. "But it kept getting worse. One day, Maks was trying to put me in a certain position and hit my stomach so hard with his open palm that I had a red handprint there for the rest of the day."

Wow, sounds almost as hard as any other sports practice. We're sure having soccer balls fired at her full speed for three hours a day never leaves a red mark.

She says ABC offered to let her switch partners, but she didn't because she "didn't want to end Maks' career." She also didn't want the dreaded media to make her look like a "prima donna." Don't worry, Hope, you already did that by agreeing to be on Dancing With the Stars.

Chmerkovskiy seemed to address the Olympic gold medalists allegations in a tweet on Thursday, posting via @MaksimC, "Always hated hypocrites and liars...but when someone is both AND an opportunist, I just feel bad for them. Can't win at someone's expense..." Now, there's no way to prove that's what his tweet was about, but there's no proof it's not, either, and that's the media's bread and butter.

[Photo: Getty Images


[Last modified: Friday, August 17, 2012 3:00pm]


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