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Kirstie Alley Ends Maksim Chmerkovskiy Friendship Over Leah Remini

Maks

A longtime friendship is ending…and it’s because of another one beginning! Maksim Chmerkovskiy has recently been spending a lot of time with Jennifer Lopez and her BFF Leah Remini, which his former pal and two-time Dancing With the Stars partner, Kirstie Alley, is none too thrilled about.

The Cheers star famously had harsh words to say about Leah last year, after the actress made a public decision to leave Scientology. Now, during an interview on Watch What Happens Live, Maks admits that, recently, he had a falling out with Kirstie over the issue.

“She just stopped getting along with me,” he told Andy Cohen. “I think the world of her. I’m not judging people by their religion. You know, I’m Jewish, and I don’t really believe in science fiction. We had a great relationship that…I thought we had a great relationship. If it was something else, I don’t know, but I got a message that now that I am associating with other people that she can’t be associated with, I am no longer to be spoken with, sorry, but…it is what it is.”

In Season 12 of DWTS, Maks pushed Kirstie to a second place finish. They later appeared as partners on the All Stars season of the show. “I just think it’s sad that we’ve gone through so much together,” he continued. “I feel like I helped her and this is where we’re at now? But…I think the world of her and I wish her all the best.”

2011 All The Right Moves Summer Invitational

On the topic of Maks’ new friends, though, the latest story floating around is that he’s romantically involved with J.Lo. Andy brought up the topic, noting that Leah recently told him the good-looking pair are not together. “She’s the authority on everything J.Lo, so, you should listen,” the pro dancer grinned, side-stepping the question.

Meanwhile, it was recently announced that Maks won’t be returning to DWTS next season, after his first place finish with Meryl Davis earlier this year. But that doesn’t mean he thinks the show has run its course. “I saw that there were a lot of changes last season,” he said. “I took a year off, I skipped two seasons and came back. I personally fell in love with the show. And that’s not something I need to say now that I’m not a part of it. It’s definitely amazing entertainment, and I think the cleanest entertainment we have left on TV. I do think it needs to stay on. I’m a big supporter of everything dance related.”

He closed up his answer to that question, though, with a little dig toward the hit ABC series. “My problem is…I think they’re running out of legitimate celebrities,” he concluded.

Maksim is still expected to return to the show in some form when it returns in the fall.

MORE LINKS

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