EXCLUSIVE: Maks Chmerkovskiy Gushes Over Peta Murgatroyd's 'Incredible Transformation' & First Mother's Day
Peta Murgatroyd would have all the flowers this Mother's Day, if it were up to her fiancé Maksim Chmerkovskiy, as he told ET when we caught up with the couple at the Steve Irwin Gala in Beverly Hills, California, on Saturday.
"She's deserving of every flower on the Earth," he gushed of Murgatroyd, who gave birth to their son, 4-month-old Shai, in January. But Chmerkovskiy wasn't finished with his praise. "It's an amazing process to see, [Peta] is not the same person that she was three or four months ago. That was an incredible transformation -- and I was thinking about it today, actually -- it just hit me that tomorrow will be your first Mother's Day ever."
WATCH: Maksim Chmerkovskiy Adorably Dances With Baby Shai in the Streets of L.A.
Despite the occasion, the Dancing With the Stars pair planned to keep the celebrations chill on the day. "I wanted to do something low-key," said Murgatroyd, 30. "Maybe [we'll] just go to lunch, maybe even not. Maybe just sit on the couch and play with [Shai]. I'm down for anything; I just want to be with him."
While Murgatroyd is taking a break from Dancing With The Stars at the moment, she still has opinions on the current competitors -- and which ones might take home the mirror ball trophy, following Chmerkovskiy and pro partner Heather Morris' shocking elimination earlier this season. The two-time DWTS champ says Simone Biles, Rashad Jennings and Emma Slater all make the competition tough, while she and her fiance both agree that Chmerkovskiy's brother Val and his Fifth Harmony partner, Normani Kordei, are standouts.
"You know we look at our elimination and clearly it’s not only about dance, it's about the whole appeal," Chmerkovskiy explained. "I think that overall, Normani has, like, a full package. Fan base and dancing and the personality and everything that Dancing With The Stars champions are sort of supposed to look like."
The couple attended the Steve Irwin Gala to support the ongoing work of the wildlife conservation icon's family. Apart from the DWTS connection to Irwin's daughter, Bindi, Murgatroyd revealed she feels close the cause, having grown up watching Irwin from her home in Australia.
"I'm a huge fan of their family and they do so much for wildlife conservation around Australia and around the world," she said. "I think he's a legend, he's an icon now. And everyone knows who Steve Irwin is and he's really missed. We miss the show, we miss everything about him and what he does. I'm so glad that his family is continuing his legacy."
Earlier this month, ET caught up with the new parents on a rare date night out to chat about how life has changed since the arrival of baby Shai. See what they had to say in this video.