Maksim Chmerkovskiy On ‘Incredible’ Opportunity To Raise Children Alongside Brother Val (Exclusive)

Maksim Chmerkovskiy spoke to TooFab about becoming a father of two — soon-to-be father of three — and what it’s been like to raise children alongside his younger brother.

“We’re very close. Our families are very close. It’s incredible for us to have kids together in age. It’s amazing how tight our family is,” Maks said of his bond with brother Val Chmerkovkisy.

While the So You Think You Can Dance judge said it wasn’t planned for the pair to welcome sons at the same time, the timing couldn’t have been more perfect and more special for the pair, whose sons are just six months apart.

“Val and I are six years apart. We always leaned into that difference between us, like, ‘This is the perfect way,'” Maks, who welcomed son Rio in June with wife, Peta Murgatroyd, recalled. “Val and I are a different duo. I fell in love immediately, it took him so time, but it started that way. It was me and my infatuation with this little brother that I got.”

“Val’s son and my second son to be basically same age, they’re six months apart, that’s insane. That’s crazy,” he remarked, before noting the coincidental age difference between his older son, Shai, 6, and Rio, 7 months. “And it’s six years after my first child. I mean the numbers, it’s mind-blowing. I mean, how did we… did we try that? Was this on purpose? Not at all.”

“Be careful what you wish for, life will give you exactly what you’re asking [for],” Maks added.

As for Shai and Rio, the dance pro said he’s not forcing a relationship between the pair, but noted that they’re “super tight” already.

“I’m not forcing it on my kids. It’s sort of coming natural. He’s my son and Peta is that girl that wants her family to be super tight. We instilled those things. He can’t stop kissing him, they’re very tight and I’m excited,” he gushed.

While he and Val had to stop living together due to their growing families, Maks said he’s planning to turn a basement of one of their homes into the go-to spot for their children to play.

As for whether his sons will be following in his famous footsteps and hitting the dancefloor, Maks said it’s known that Shai isn’t a fan of dance, adding that he and Peta want him to try a bit of everything before he totally decides that dance is not for him.

“He just knows that this is part of his routine now,” Maks said about enrolling Shai in dance. “And I’m happy about that.”

While dance is central to the Chmerkovskiy family, so is the television personality’s home country of Ukraine, with Maks telling TooFab that he’s still providing relief to the country amid Russia’s ongoing invasion.

“I’m still helping. I’m still representing very much one side. I’m part of a network with people who are still working tirelessly and providing hundreds of thousands of pounds — at this point, it’s already kind of insane numbers of stuff that’s being brought in the country and the way people are being helped,” Maks shared. “And this is unrelated to the help that government’s are disputing and we’re seeing in the news. I’m not part of that at all. I’m part of real, normal people, really getting together and doing stuff.”

While the goings on in Ukraine are not making headlines daily like at the start of the conflict, Maks said it’s important to continue conversation about what’s happening there. He’s also hopeful that he can return to his homeland one day and see the friends and family that are still there.

“I have some personal stuff that’s still in Kiev, I don’t want it back. I made it very clear, I want to be able to get it myself. I want this [to be] over so I can go see my friends, so we can reconvene in Kiev, so we can maybe look at this as a nightmare that’s just kind of a blink of an eye,” the Dancing with the Stars alum maintained. “But we’re not there yet. They’re still at the front… it’s still there. It didn’t stop. It didn’t subside. It did not ease up. If anything it’s escalating, and we’ll see what happens.”

To learn more on how you can help with the relief effort in Ukraine, check out the rest of TooFab’s conversation with Maks below.