Andy Cohen Apologizes to Julia Stiles After ‘DWTS’ Dig: ‘I Am So Sorry’
Hours after her quickstep, the Bravo boss named himself "Jackhole of the Day." Stiles' reply: "Derek said it best!"
- Andy Cohen apologized to Julia Stiles on Watch What Happens Live on Sept. 16, hours after her Dancing With the Stars debut: “Julia, I am so sorry.”
- In 2025 he said on his SiriusXM show that she is “not the greatest dancer on the planet.” She said the line is “imprinted in my brain.”
- Stiles and pro Ezra Sosa scored 18 with a quickstep to Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5,” and judge Derek Hough told Cohen, “you can eat it!”
Andy Cohen has said sorry to Julia Stiles. The Bravo boss, 58, apologized on the Sept. 16 episode of Watch What Happens Live, hours after the actor called him out on the Dancing With the Stars season 35 premiere.
“Julia, I am so sorry. I’m the last person who should be giving anyone feedback on their dancing.”
— Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live
“Great job, Julia Stiles,” he added. “You killed it tonight!” He also crowned himself the night’s “Jackhole of the Day,” the late-night show’s recurring segment for the day’s worst behavior.
Why did Andy Cohen apologize to Julia Stiles?
Because she brought receipts. In 2025, Cohen asked on his SiriusXM radio show, “Can we all just agree that Julia Stiles is not the greatest dancer on the planet?”
Stiles, 45, brought it up on the premiere. In rehearsal footage, the 10 Things I Hate About You star told Sosa, “The quote is imprinted in my brain.” Then she made a promise: “We’re gonna win the Mirrorball, sit on Andy’s couch and be like, ‘Hey.'”
How did Derek Hough respond to Andy Cohen?
Hough didn’t wait to weigh in. The judge opened his critique of Stiles’ quickstep with a message for Cohen: “Andy Cohen, you can eat it!”
The couple finished with 18 out of 30, tied with Olympic figure skater Amber Glenn for the third-best score of the women’s night.
Has Julia Stiles responded to Andy Cohen?
Only by pointing at the judges’ table. Asked by Us Weekly after the show whether she had a message for Cohen, Stiles said: “Derek said it best!” She has not publicly addressed the apology itself.
Sosa was more direct. Cohen, he said, should “tune in every Tuesday night on Dancing With the Stars. He will see some great dancing from this diva.”
Why did Julia Stiles dance to ‘9 to 5’?
Every star on premiere week danced to a No. 1 song from the year they were born, and for Stiles, born in 1981, that meant Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5.”
The timing gave it extra weight: Parton died Aug. 25 at 80. “I’m so honored to be dancing to her music and honoring her legacy, and I want to make her proud,” Stiles said. She is no stranger to dancing on screen: she starred in the 2001 dance drama Save the Last Dance.
See where every couple stands in our DWTS season 35 cast guide, who has already gone home in our elimination tracker, and how to vote for Julia Stiles. More in TV & Reality.
Dancing With the Stars airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and Disney+ and streams the next day on Hulu.
The take
Cohen moved fast: same night, his own show, his own “Jackhole” segment. Stiles hasn’t taken it up — her only message to him so far points back at Hough. Her premiere promise still ends on Cohen’s couch, which gives the rivalry a finish line even with the apology on the record.
— Bruno Monteiro
Sources: ABC’s broadcast of the Dancing With the Stars season 35 premiere (Sept. 16, 2026); Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, Bravo (Sept. 16, 2026), as aired on ABC’s The View (Sept. 17); Andy Cohen’s SiriusXM show (2025); Us Weekly (Stiles and Sosa interview); TV Insider (Alyssa Norwin); E! News. Photos: Dancing With the Stars (@dancingwiththestars) and Andy Cohen (@bravoandy) on Instagram.
Reported from @dancingwiththestars on Instagram.
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