"I fell in love here, I birthed my son here," the former "Dancing With the Stars" pro writes of the milestone.
Sharna Burgess is sharing a huge personal milestone! She's officially a United States citizen.
"Today something really amazing happened," the former Dancing With the Stars pro posted on Thursday, alongside a video of her taking what appears to be the naturalization oath of allegiance to the United States of America. The clip is set to Whitney Houston's rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" from the 1991 Super Bowl.
"I had no idea that this would feel emotional for me. This has been my home for nearly 12 years now," Burgess shared. "My son was born here, my life and love and career... all here. And yet this last step of becoming a citizen and finally having the same rights as all Americans felt so important."
The 37-year-old noted that she has lived outside her native Australia since she was 18, often carrying just a suitcase between her stops.
"At one point my belongings were just in garbage bags since it was easier to move," she admitted. "I’ve never even had to vote anywhere before. I think I always felt a bit like a Gypsy searching for belonging. Afraid of staying in one place and also craving the security of it."
In time, she says, "America slowly became my permanent home."
"Eventually I found my tribe here, I bought a home here, I fell in love here, I birthed my son here. Now this final step is the period at the end I never knew I was needing so much," she concludes. "This very long chapter of finding belonging has finally come to a close. I, Sharna Burgess, am a citizen of The United States of America, and I belong here."
Burgess' home life has been quite busy this year, welcoming son Zane with boyfriend Brian Austin Green in June. Green can be seen smiling with his arm around Burgess in a photo from her naturalization ceremony on Thursday.
In August, the new mom announced that she would not be competing in season 31 of Dancing With the Stars in an effort to better focus her energies on raising her baby.
"I was not ready to spend, at minimum, 10 hours a day away from Zane," she explained. "I’m a full-time breastfeeding mama. And not only that, I just am so in love with being a mom. As much as it was hard to say no to Dancing...I have this family and this newborn at home that I may never get these moments back [with]."
Burgess continued, "I've been waiting for this for so long, so I am staying in that moment and I’m going to live and love every single bit of it. But it does not mean that I won’t be around...so you will see me, but it will just be in a different way."
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