Women supporting women. Sharna Burgess dismissed the idea that she should be “competitive” with boyfriend Brian Austin Green‘s ex-wife, Megan Fox.

“I think everyone wants this gossip on Megan and I because, you know, we essentially have been with the same man, but there is no gossip there,” the Dancing With the Stars pro, 36, told Us Weekly exclusively ahead of The Modern Day Wife‘s What She Said panel on Thursday, March 25. “[People are] fascinated with this idea of us being in the same story, whereas her story finished with [Brian]. … People just wanna blend it into something else and make it is something that it’s not.”

Burgess continued: “We’re two women that are living our lives and doing, you know, incredible things on our own. And we’re both incredible women on our own.”

The Australia native added that she feels the comparisons between her and Fox, 35, are just another attempt to start drama between the two women. “It’s such a shame that women are pitted against each other and that women … are believed to be competitive with one another when we don’t have to be,” she said. “We can just be supportive of one another and there is so much more power in that.”

Earlier this month, Burgess shut down an Instagram comment that said she was “following in Megan Fox’s footsteps” through her relationship with Green, 48. “Normally I wouldn’t answer these types of questions but I think many women struggle with comparing themselves to a partners x [SIC]. Or to other women in general,” she wrote at the time. “That’s because society has made out that we are a bitchy and competitive gender, that we can’t possibly be happy with who we are without wanting what ‘she’ (whoever that is to you) has. We are measured by our looks and our weight more than we are weighed by anything else. So my answer to you is simple … I don’t.”

She continued: “This notion that you ‘following the footsteps’ of your partners X [SIC] is dangerous. If you live by that idea then it will lead you to the same result. The relationship ending. You are a unique one of a kind woman, don’t follow in anyone’s footsteps, make your own path. Create the path YOU want.”

Burgess concluded her message by reminding her followers that “women are incredible, powerful creatures,” and that by “helping each other, respecting each other and lifting each other up,” they would become “unstoppable.”

Ahead of the panel, the dancer explained that she felt compelled to share her thoughts about being measured against Fox in order to dispel the idea that women are constantly fighting against each other. “It’s a huge question that I get all the time,” she told Us. “And so I thought, ‘You know what? I wanna address this.’ I feel like women need to know that you shouldn’t compare yourself to anyone. You are the only you.”

The dancer was first linked to the Beverly Hills, 90210 alum in October 2020 and the pair confirmed their relationship two months later. Us confirmed in February that Burgess and Green were expecting their first child together. The Adventures in Babysitting star is already the father of sons Noah, 9, Bodhi, 7, and Journey, 5, with Fox and son, Kassius, 19, whom he shares with ex-fiancée Vanessa Marcil.

The Transformers actress, meanwhile, began dating rapper Machine Gun Kelly in June 2020 and they got engaged in January.

With reporting by Diana Cooper

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