Lindsay Arnold Reflects on Leaving ‘Dancing with the Stars’ for Family Life

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Lindsay Arnold, a 10-season veteran of “Dancing with the Stars,” has no regrets about leaving the hit ABC show at the height of her career to focus on her family. The professional dancer, now 31, stepped away in September 2022 after welcoming her first daughter, Sage, in 2020 and later her second daughter, June, in 2023.

“A lot of my priorities and where I wanted to spend my time… it just shifted,” Arnold told PEOPLE in an exclusive interview. “My mindset shifted. Time goes 10 times faster when you have kids, and I just know that this time is so precious and something that you don’t get back.”

Arnold, who won Season 25 of “DWTS” with partner Jordan Fisher, said she and her husband, Samuel Cusick, had been discussing starting a family for years. She wanted to feel a sense of accomplishment before leaving the show, which she achieved after winning the Mirrorball Trophy and competing in four more seasons.

“I did want to have a sense of accomplishment within the show knowing that, ‘Okay, if we do have kids and I don’t come back, do I feel like I fulfilled what I hope to do?’” she said. “We honestly were probably past the point of being ready. We were like, ‘Okay, we really want this now,’ and I’m glad we waited for that time because it felt so right for us.”

Arnold, who grew up in Utah, never felt at home in Hollywood despite her success. “To be honest, I actually never, ever loved or embraced Hollywood in a sense of where I’d want to live,” she said. “Loved everything about what it offered to me, what it did for my career, what I was able to do out there, but I was actually always the pro that, in between seasons, [who] would sneak back to Utah to be with my family.”

After leaving “DWTS,” Arnold transitioned to social media, where she has amassed nearly 2 million followers across Instagram and TikTok. She shares workout tutorials, lifestyle vlogs, and glimpses of her family life. “When I decided to step away from ‘Dancing with the Stars,’ I didn’t have this grand plan of, ‘OK, this is my career. This is where we’re going,’” she said. “I just knew I wanted to do things that were authentic to me.”

Arnold also launched a workout program, The Movement Club, designed for mothers like herself. “I started it during my first pregnancy because I really just felt like there was a missing space for a program that is literally for everyone,” she explained. “No matter what stage of life you’re in, whether you’re in the best shape of your life, you’ve never worked out before, you’re pregnant, you’re postpartum, I just wanted a program that was inviting to all.”

While Arnold misses the “DWTS” community, she doesn’t regret her decision. “There are so many things I miss about the show,” she said. “I miss all my friends on the show. The community, the family, it is real. The second my sister hops onto the show, they’re treating her like a little sister because it’s family.”

Arnold’s sister, Rylee Arnold, joined “DWTS” as a pro dancer in 2023, which has helped Lindsay feel connected to the show without returning. “It’s actually maybe done the opposite a little bit,” she said. “Yes, of course, there’s part of me that’s like, ‘I want to be on the show with Rylee. I think that would be so cool and such a moment,’ but then it’s been really nice to feel like it’s still part of my life through Rylee in a way.”

Arnold emphasized that her decision to leave was ultimately about balancing her career with motherhood. “What I don’t miss is it is a full-on time commitment,” she said. “If you want to be good at your job, if you want to do well, it’s a 24/7 job. And when you’re a mom, that’s a 24/7 job, so that battle is really difficult.”

Despite the challenges, Arnold said her transition from dancer to mom and influencer has been a natural progression. “It’s felt like a very natural progression for me, which I’m grateful for,” she said. “I’m really grateful to say that I haven’t regretted my decisions one step of the way.”