Ilona Maher talks encouraging girls to embrace their ‘powerful’ self on ‘Dancing with the Stars’

Ilona Maher isn’t just dancing for herself on “Dancing with the Stars,” but she’s also dancing for young girls like her.
“People are loving to see a girl like me move. They’re seeing themselves out there,” the Olympic rugby player told “Good Morning America” alongside her pro partner Alan Bersten in an interview that aired Nov. 7.
Maher added that fans have also loved to see Bersten “working with a person like me and how he supports me and makes me feel so beautiful on the floor.”
Together, the two have made it more than halfway through season 33 and are in the top six headed into the show’s milestone 500th episode, airing Nov. 12.
“For me, it’s just showing how powerful and how important it is to be strong physically and mentally,” Maher, fresh off winning a bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics, said.
“I think young girls like seeing me dancing the rumba, this muscular build out there, trying to be as graceful as she can…,” she continued. “At times it feels like it’s not just for me that I’m doing this, it’s for others.”
Bersten called Maher “the epitome of the show,” which he said is all about “taking somebody who’s never danced before, giving them an opportunity to show how much they want to learn, how much they care and how much they can grow.”
“She is exactly who she is on social media, in person. She’s funny. She’s loud. She’s authentically herself,” he added. “She’s the first female partner to lift her male partner on the show, and it’s just awesome.”