Victoria Kalina, a former Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader (DCC) who gained prominence on Netflix's "America's Sweethearts," has openly discussed her struggles with mental health, eating disorders, and the pressures of maintaining a specific image. Her story resonates with many, highlighting the importance of self-care, mental well-being, and pursuing personal aspirations. This article delves into Victoria's journey, exploring her weight loss tips, mental health strategies, and her transition to new opportunities.
Victoria's Battle with Depression and Eating Disorders
"I've never been open about it, but my depression turns into this bad cycle," Victoria explained on Netflix's America's Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders docuseries. She revealed that her depression often led to unhealthy coping mechanisms, including "bad eating habits."
"I go through the cycle when that depression zone hits," she continued. "It's a binge-purge cycle. It's a binge to get that feel-good, that empty feeling filled again."
During the COVID lockdown, when she was deprived of her therapeutic escapes to the dance room, her eating disorder worsened. “That was when it got really bad and really serious,” she says. She ended up taking a gap year during her DCC term, and started seeing a therapist once and sometimes twice a week. “She helped me find exercises or techniques that guided me to finding that strength within.”
Victoria's honesty about her struggles with an eating disorder resonated with many viewers of "America's Sweethearts." "It is a big struggle that I’m going to probably always have to battle. So it’s always been close to the surface,” she said. Sharing the secret “was almost a therapeutic release because it’s such a deep thing that I try to hide. But it’s a part of who I am, and it’s a part of what I struggle with."
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She recalls feeling very "out of it" and recognized that "without that year, I did not feel I could be my best to represent DCC." Victoria acknowledged, "I've learned that I do not like to feel my feelings," explaining, "I think that's why I cover any emotion that I have."
Victoria also confessed, "I just love making people happy," adding, "When I don't feel like it's being reciprocated, it's very exhausting and hard not to think you're not liked."
Seeking Help and Finding Strength
To combat her eating disorder, Victoria sought professional help. She started seeing a therapist once or twice a week, who "helped me find exercises or techniques that guided me to finding that strength within."
Victoria also credits her mother Tina-a bubbly blonde who’s perennially wearing pink or sparkly Cowboys gear-for helping her recover. On the docuseries, Tina is almost always by Kalina’s side. When Kalina was in recovery, once restaurants reopened, Kalina and her mother made a point of going out to eat once a week. “I would get so anxious just ordering [something] that wasn’t part of my daily routine or what I didn’t think was right for my diet,” says Kalina. “She was like, ‘We’re going to talk through it.’ At some points if I wanted to go up and leave the restaurant, she would go with me.
Victoria's Weight Loss and Fitness Tips
While Victoria has been open about her struggles with eating disorders, she has also shared insights into her fitness routine and approach to a healthy lifestyle. She is teaching a workout class - in her two-piece exercise set. In a new social media post the former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader shows off her insanely fit figure while teaching a fitness class at Eve, a “Women Only Luxury Studio” that promotes “elevated movement intentionally designed for the strong & fierce feminine mind & body.” How does she approach diet, fitness, and self-care? Victoria recently started cycling. “Fitness is one of my many passions and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I enjoy cycling!” she wrote in a post. “Highly recommend-during this busy time, you can get in a quick endorphin burst with a quick spin💕🤩💗.” The Cleveland Clinic explains that biking, a low-impact aerobic exercise, is great for building muscle, improving strength and flexibility, and improving balance.
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Embracing Cycling
Victoria recently started cycling, describing it as a surprising and enjoyable discovery. “Fitness is one of my many passions and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I enjoy cycling!” she wrote in a post. “Highly recommend-during this busy time, you can get in a quick endorphin burst with a quick spin💕🤩💗.” Cycling is a low-impact aerobic exercise that helps build muscle, improve strength and flexibility, and enhance balance.
The Power of Dance
Dancing has always been an integral part of Victoria's life. Dancing is a great workout for many reasons. Not only does it build strength and promote flexibility, but helps you lose weight and even promotes cardiovascular function. A 2016 study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine determined that people who engaged in moderate-intensity dancing were 46 percent less likely to develop heart disease or die from it than non-dancers.
Importance of Therapeutic Escapes
During the COVID lockdown, when Kalina was deprived of her therapeutic escapes to the dance room, her eating disorder worsened. “That was when it got really bad and really serious,” she says.
Moving Forward: New Opportunities and Dreams
Ultimately, at the end of the season, Victoria decided to leave the squad and has since traded in the Lone Star State for the East Coast to pursue new opportunities, she shared in a June 23 YouTube video. "Victoria made the right decision for herself," she recently told E! News. "I think she's got big plans moving on. I wish her nothing but the best. I think she can and should be successful."
Now that she’s living on her own, though, Kalina has to make enough to afford New York rent. So in addition to training for the Rockettes, she says, “I’m also taking auditions for any other Broadway shows that are out there, any other Christmas holiday shows that need dancers.” She’s been adjusting to the city and life away from Tina-FaceTiming her when she’s wandering the streets or waiting for clothes to dry at the laundromat.
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Victoria is planning on auditioning for the Rockettes. She is currently living in New York City and training with a precision dance coach. “I didn’t want to [lose my] momentum,” she explains. “Everyone has seen or commented on a different glow that New York has put on me.”
Pursuing the Rockettes Dream
Now that she's living on her own, though, Kalina has to make enough to afford New York rent. So in addition to training for the Rockettes, she says, “I’m also taking auditions for any other Broadway shows that are out there, any other Christmas holiday shows that need dancers.” She’s been adjusting to the city and life away from Tina-FaceTiming her when she’s wandering the streets or waiting for clothes to dry at the laundromat. Though she’s heard from a surge of strangers who viewed America’s Sweethearts, Kalina says she hasn’t heard from Finglass or any of her fellow DCCs since the show premiered. “But it goes both ways. Just as I haven’t heard from them, I haven’t done my part either in reaching out to see how they are,” she says. As for Finglass, “She’s so busy right now. I’m sure I’m going to hear from her. And that’s on me too. I can reach out to her.”
Other Ambitions
In addition to training for the Rockettes, Victoria is also exploring other opportunities in the entertainment industry. She is taking auditions for other Broadway shows and Christmas holiday shows that need dancers.
The Complexities of the DCC World
Victoria Kalina had already had her heart broken once on television when she was approached about appearing in the docuseries that would become Netflix’s America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. She was told on camera that she didn’t make the cut-a rejection that was especially crushing because, as the daughter of an ’80s Cowboys cheerleader, she spent her life dreaming of becoming a second-generation “DCC.”It also didn’t help that the woman who decided and delivered her fate-DCC director Kelli McGonagill Finglass-was a close friend of her mother’s, someone Kalina had known since she was a child. (In America’s Sweethearts, Finglass recalls the rejection being “one of the hardest moments of my career.”)By the time Netflix came knocking, though, Kalina had persevered-making the Dallas Cowboys cheerleader team three times. (Each DCC is required to turn in her costume at the end of the season and compete for a place on the team every year, regardless of her experience.) She had DCC experience and trusted the vision of America’s Sweethearts creator Greg Whiteley, who previously created Netflix’s Cheer and Last Chance U.But the 2023-2024 football season, captured in the docuseries starting from the cheerleaders’ audition process to game days, was more difficult than Kalina anticipated. On top of the familiar mental and physical rigors of the job, she was competing against younger, more energetic performers. America’s Sweethearts ends with another crushing moment for Kalina, again delivered by Finglass. As the cheerleader turns in her uniform, she asks Finglass and DCC choreographer Judy Trammell about the chances of her growing into a leadership role in the 2024-2025 season: “My love and my heart and my soul are here and I want to know that it’s reciprocated.”The women respond by telling Kalina that she would be lucky to make the team again considering how she performed last season, let alone become one of its leaders.That conversation took place in February of this year. And after a weekend of consideration with her mother, Tina, Kalina decided she was done auditioning for the organization. Within five months, she left the state of Texas, the safety of her family home, and the DCC cocoon she was born into to brave it in New York City alone, pursuing her other lifelong dancing dream of joining the Rockettes.So when Kalina binge-watched America’s Sweethearts earlier this month, that gut punch of a scene was “heartbreaking” to relive. But it was also incredible to watch it from her new home, where she’s training for her new goal.“Just because my journey wasn’t what I expected or wanted it to be, or because it stopped at a different time than I wanted, doesn’t mean that it wasn’t fantastic,” Kalina tells me over Zoom this week. She is no longer sitting in the girly, DCC-festooned bedroom where she did her Sweethearts interviews, but in a New York City sublet still stacked with storage containers. “I’m still DCC’s number one fan,” says Kalina, wearing a pink tank top, her blonde hair in a ponytail, and a big smile.
The Pressure to Conform
By the time Netflix came knocking, though, Kalina had persevered-making the Dallas Cowboys cheerleader team three times. (Each DCC is required to turn in her costume at the end of the season and compete for a place on the team every year, regardless of her experience.) She had DCC experience and trusted the vision of America’s Sweethearts creator Greg Whiteley, who previously created Netflix’s Cheer and Last Chance U.But the 2023-2024 football season, captured in the docuseries starting from the cheerleaders’ audition process to game days, was more difficult than Kalina anticipated. On top of the familiar mental and physical rigors of the job, she was competing against younger, more energetic performers. America’s Sweethearts ends with another crushing moment for Kalina, again delivered by Finglass. As the cheerleader turns in her uniform, she asks Finglass and DCC choreographer Judy Trammell about the chances of her growing into a leadership role in the 2024-2025 season: “My love and my heart and my soul are here and I want to know that it’s reciprocated.”The women respond by telling Kalina that she would be lucky to make the team again considering how she performed last season, let alone become one of its leaders.That conversation took place in February of this year. And after a weekend of consideration with her mother, Tina, Kalina decided she was done auditioning for the organization. Within five months, she left the state of Texas, the safety of her family home, and the DCC cocoon she was born into to brave it in New York City alone, pursuing her other lifelong dancing dream of joining the Rockettes.
The Financial Aspect
On the series, Cowboys owner Charlotte Jones claims that the cheerleaders “don’t actually come here for the money. They come here for something that’s actually bigger than that, to them.” Kalina, too, defends the organization: “A lot of people are very hyper-focused on how little we get paid, but they also are not seeing the other side. We do get paid on game days. We get paid with sponsorships, so we don’t have to pay for getting our hair colored or our haircuts. We don’t have to pay for our spray tans. We get compensated in that aspect.” Kalina says there has been improvement: “When my mom cheered, they got next to nothing. So I think it’s just going to be a small process of change. It’s just not happening at the pace that others want to see it.”