Vanessa Lachey praises supportive Maksim Chmerkovskiy

Last week Maksim Chmerkovskiy skipped his Dancing With The Stars performance after a rumored personality clash with celebrity partner Vanessa Lachey.

But it was like the spat had never happened as the pair returned to the dancefloor on Dancing With The Stars on Monday night.

And obviously keen to move on, Vanessa made a point of praising the professional dancer after the show – saying the Russian-born star had ‘got my back’.

‘He’s got my back!’ Vanessa Lachey praises supportive Maksim Chmerkovskiy as he returns to Dancing With The Stars on Monday night 

With the evening’s theme being memorable year, Vanessa picked 2017 – calling it ‘the year our family was complete’. 

While Vanessa’s choice celebrated the birth of her son Phoenix, it brought back memories of her third child’s premature arrival – something she found emotionally draining. 

‘It is literally speaking emotion through movement, and I was worried I wasn’t going to be able to do it,’ she told Entertainment Tonight of the dance. 

Competing couple: Vanessa explained the difficult childbirth  experience before her dance in celebration of son Phoenix

Emergency surgery: Vanessa had to undergo emergency surgery as Phoenix was born prematurely in December

Happy family: Vanessa was shown after her emergency surgery as Nick dedicated his Most Memorable Year dance to 2016

‘But I know I got this guy literally standing there, and he’s got my back… I just looked over and grabbed on and was like, “We got this.”‘

The proud mother’s rumba, danced to one of Nick’s songs, scored 24 points. 

‘That was just so touching,’ said Carrie Ann Inaba, who noticed a ‘wobble’ on one turn. 

While the two wowed the judges with their emotional tribute, Maksim’s wife Peta Murgatroyd and her celebrity partner, Vanessa’s husband Nick Lachey, were not as successful, coming in the bottom two.

Tears flowing: Nick Lachey sobbed during Monday’s episode of Dancing With The Stars while recalling the traumatic birth of his third child

‘She is still crying, so this is definitely going to be emotional,’ he said of Murgatroyd. ‘I think everything was sort of pressure for her and everybody wanted to put amazing steps underneath all these incredible stories. And I think everybody came out great.’

Last Monday Maksim, who has an infant son with Peta, failed to appear for his performance, citing ‘personal reasons’.

Two days later on Wednesday, the 37-year-old took full responsibility for his absence via Twitter, and apologized to his celebrity partner.

‘As you are all aware, I had to leave the show last week to take care of some personal issues,’ he wrote. ‘I take full responsibility for my absence …. and want to apologize to my partner Vanessa.

‘We are both looking forward to dancing for our fans next week!’ he added. 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk