Danielle Fishel is battling an injury as she heads into Week 3 of her time on Dancing With the Stars. The actress posted an Instagram video revealing the massive bruise that’s overtaken her leg amid rehearsals.
“How I talk to my knees after 4 weeks of rehearsals and 2 live shows,” she wrote with the video, which featured her lip-syncing to lyrics from Destiny’s Child’s song “Cater 2 U.” The clip shows Fishel mouthing, “Baby, I see you working hard, wanna let you know I’m proud, let you know that I admire what you do, don’t know if I need to reassure you, my life would be purposeless without you.”
To put fans’ minds at ease, she captioned the video, “I promise my leg feels better than it looks.”
Her fellow Season 28 contestant Elaine Hendrix jumped into the comments section to write, “Healing healing healing LOVE to that leg!!!!! 🫶🏼.”
During the September 23 episode of DWTS, Fishel revealed that she had a hamstring tear. She ended up getting a deep tissue massage, which “broke every blood vessel in the back of my leg,” she shared, adding that she was “pushing through the pain” at the time.
“I had to meet with a surgeon to see if I needed surgery on top of an already kind of grueling rehearsal schedule,” she revealed to Us Weekly after the live show. “To find time to take care of myself has been, probably, the biggest challenge.”
The competition continues with the next episode of Tuesday, September 30. This week, the remaining 12 couples will dance to songs that have gone viral on TikTok. Fishel and her partner, Pasha Pashkov, are performing a Foxtrot to “Manchild” by Sabrina Carpenter.
For her first dance of the season, Fishel scored a 12/20 from the judges. Her second routine earned her a 19/30.
Dancing With the Stars, Season 28, Tuesdays, 8/7c, ABC