Sharna Burgess Isn't A Fan Of Brian Austin Green's Ex Vanessa Marcil
Australian pro-dancer Sharna Burgess found more than fame and recognition in her tenure on "Dancing with the Stars" – she gained a new love and larger family in dance partner Brian Austin Green. First introduced through their mutual business manager, the pair were already dating when they heated up the dance floor in "DWTS" Season 30. Going Instagram-official in January 2021, Burgess announced her pregnancy with their son, Zane Walker Green, shortly after their Week 4 elimination. Although they didn't win the season, the couple arguably waltzed away with an even bigger prize.
While being Burgess' first child, Zane (born in June 2022) is Green's fifth. His eldest — son Kassius — is mothered by ex-fiancee Vanessa Marcil, whom he met while working on "Beverly Hills, 90210." Although Green and Marcil called it quits in 2003, shortly after Kassius' birth, they continued to co-parent. Additionally, Green co-parents his three other sons — Noah, Bodhi, and Journey Green — with Megan Fox, whom he divorced in 2020 after 10 years of marriage. According to Burgess, both Noah and Journey helped Green propose to her. On a September 2023 episode of Green's podcast, "Oldish," Burgess recalled the adorable moment, gushing, "Noah is holding Zane, and Journey is holding this little red Cartier box... [Brian] takes the box from Journey, and he says, 'Would you spend the rest of your life with us?'"
While enthusiastic about her blended brood, Burgess isn't so crazy about Marcil when it comes to co-parenting Kassius.
Sharna Burgess accused Vanessa Marcil of co-parenting sabotage
While Sharna Burgess and Brian Austin Green are excited about their ever-expanding family, the journey has had its ups and downs. On a September 2023 episode of their podcast, "Oldish," Burgess claimed that Vanessa Marcil — mother to Green's eldest son, Kassius Green — deliberately kept Kassius from his father when Brian was afflicted with continuous vertigo. "Those years that he wasn't able to go see Kassius, Vanessa made no effort to make sure Brian got time with him," Burgess lamented, adding that this fed the narrative Marcil reportedly spun about Green. "She painted him as an absent father who chose not to be around for him. And I'm sure that information was fed to Kass," the dancer noted, calling the experience "damaging" for Kassius.
Answering an Instagram inquiry in February of that year, Marcil bluntly stated that she and Green "didn't and don't co-parent. I raised my son alone " (via the Daily Mail). The "Las Vegas" alum first publicly addressed her custody drama in a November 2018 Instagram post, slamming Green and Kassius' then-stepmom, Megan Fox. As Marcil claimed at the time, Green and Fox "always had and still have 50% custody" of Kassius and were the ones to consciously boot him from their lives "5 years ago." Marcil also claimed that Kassius had never even met Fox's youngest son with Green and was not "allowed to know where his bio father, stepmother, and three younger brothers live." What a mess!
Sharna Burgess views Megan Fox as family
Although Sharna Burgess may not be happy with one of Brian Austin Green's exes, she seems copacetic with the other. In September 2023, both she and Green gushed over his ex-wife and mother to three of his children, Megan Fox, as a member of their new blended family. In an appearance on the "Whine Down with Jana Kramer" podcast, Burgess said, [Megan's] very much a part of our life, and we'll always be connected because of the kids. So we are all family." Green echoed his fiancé's sentiments about his ex, painting a wholesome image of their two families merging. "Megan is in our home," Green said. "She'll come sometimes when she's dropping off or picking up the kids and she'll come in. And she'll be holding Zane and it's like, we are one big family" (via the Daily Mail).
Fox, however, hasn't always agreed with Green's parenting methods. Underneath a November 2020 Instagram pic of their then-4-year-old son Journey in a Halloween costume, the "Jennifer's Body" star criticized her ex's perceived overshare. "Why does Journey have to be in this picture?" Fox wrote on the now-deleted post (via Us Weekly). "It's not hard to crop them out. Or choose photos that they aren't in." The "Expend4bles" star continued, accusing her ex-husband of being "intoxicated with feeding the pervasive narrative that I'm an absent mother" while depicting himself as "the perennial, eternally dedicated dad of the year." Green and Fox share 50-50 custody of their three children.