Derek Hough on Nastia Liukin: 'I Got To Know Anastasia, Not Nastia' This Week

Derek Hough happily poses with a fan outside the dance studio in Los Angeles on Friday afternoon (May 8).

In his new blog, the 29-year-old pro dancer opened up about really bonding with DWTS partner Nastia Liukin this week.

“I got to know Anastasia, the girl who’s fun and giggly, not Nastia, the Olympic champion…On Tuesday, I saw that Nastia was still upset about it [the video package the show aired] and I felt like there was something else there. One of my favorite parts of the show is being a mentor and a friend and I haven’t had an opportunity to do that this season, so we had this great conversation in the trailer. I opened up to her and I think that made her feel safe,” he wrote.

Derek added, “And I think that helped her open up to me. It was a massive breakthrough. Regardless of the competition, it’s the friendship and personal gain from the experience that are important and everlasting. What’s even funnier is when we were talking about her, the producers knocked on the door and told us to look at some freestyle songs in case we make the finale. And you know, we had just talked, cried and hugged. We shared tears. So we were like, ‘Let’s listen to some music!’ The very first song we put on was literally what she was saying minutes before about herself. We both looked at each other, like, ‘This is crazy.’ If we make the final, we’re definitely using that song. Too bad they couldn’t capture that on camera!”

Pro dancer Witney Carson is also pictured outside the studio. 25+ pics inside…