Giada De Laurentiis Explains Why She Broke Down in Tears After ‘DWTS’ Debut: ‘It Overtook Me’ (Exclusive)

Giada De Laurentiis made a splash during her Dancing With the Stars debut, a moment that made the Food Network personality especially emotional herself.

“I think it’s the scores, but I think it’s also just, like, all the anxiety and the self-doubt and all that stuff that kind of comes up, you know,” De Laurentiis, 53, exclusively told Us after the Wednesday, September 16, live broadcast. “There’s, like, beautiful young girls that you’re dancing alongside. It’s just a weird feeling that you get, and I think it overtook me. I felt like a volcano exploded, and I was trying desperately to hold it in.”

De Laurentiis and her pro partner, Alan Bersten, impressed the judges with a tango set to Shocking Blue’s “Venus” on Wednesday’s premiere. Their routine earned a total score of 16 out of 30. After receiving her judges’ marks, De Laurentiis was seen getting visibly emotional.

“All day he’s like, ‘I think you want to cry. Why don’t you just let it out?’” she recalled of Bersten, 32. “I was like, ‘I don’t know. I want to, but there’s so many things to think about — makeup and this and that and … tonight after the dance, I was like, ‘I can’t hold it anymore.’”

Bersten, for his part, added that he was “glad” the celebrity chef didn’t conceal or hide her emotions, which De Laurentiis stressed were purely “tears of joy.”

“He’s very supportive and sweet. All he kept saying was, ‘I love you. It’s gonna be fine. You’re gonna do your best, and whatever you do, I love you anyway,’” De Laurentiis told Us on Wednesday. “Especially when we were up there, he was like, ‘Even if we get eliminated, you did the best job you could do, and I love you. It’s gonna be fine.’”

She continued, “When they said we were safe, I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is like the worst feeling ever. That it’s just the whole thing. Elimination’s terrible.’”

De Laurentiis’ ballroom debut was also lauded by her 18-year-old daughter, Jade, whom the culinary star shares with ex-husband Todd Thompson.

“She just texted me. I haven’t been able to talk to her after [yet],” De Laurentiis noted. “But she texted me before, in all caps, ‘You got this,’ and I can’t say the rest.”

Per Bersten, Jade’s sweet message will be the dancing duo’s “new mantra” going forward on DWTS.

In addition to Jade, De Laurentiis has received support from her fellow Food Network stars as she tackles the ballroom competition.

“It’s a bunch of other expletives … but yes,” she quipped. “I don’t know if they texted me [after the premiere], but they did beforehand. Especially Guy [Fieri], who was like, ‘You better shake it, and you better bring it, make us all proud.’ So, we’ll see.”

Dancing With the Stars airs on ABC and Disney+ Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET.