Lea Thompson Says Artem Chigvintsev Would Get 'Really Mad at Me' While Partnered on “DWTS”: 'He Was So Intense'

The actress' new claims come shortly after Chigvintsev was arrested on charges of felony corporal injury to spouse in Napa on Aug. 29

According to Lea Thompson, her time partnering with Artem Chigvintsev on Dancing with the Stars was less than nurturing.

On the Sept. 9 episode of Cheryl Burke's Sex, Lies and Spray Tans podcast, the Back to the Future actress, 63, opened up about her experience working with the DWTS pro amid headlines about his recent arrest.

Chigvintsev was arrested just before 10 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 29 in Napa, California. In records obtained by PEOPLE, the dancer's charge was for corporal injury to spouse; he was given a $25,000 bail and was released the same day.

Though the details have yet to be confirmed, Chigvintsev's wife Nikki Garcia (formerly Nikki Bella) is presumably the spouse in question, as the couple celebrated their second wedding anniversary on Tuesday, Aug. 26 and she was named in the 911 call about the incident published by TMZ on Aug. 30.

Related: Artem Chigvintsev, Longtime Dancing with the Stars Pro, Arrested on Accusations of Corporal Injury to Spouse

In light of recent allegations, Thompson recalled her time on the competitive dance series and how "hard" it was to work with Chigvintsev when they were partnered together in 2014.

"It was his first year and it was a big deal to him and he was so intense," she began. "I didn't realize how important it was ... it was so much more important to him than to me, honestly. And so that made me really nervous. Like, it made me crazy after a while."

While acknowledging some of the cultural differences in Chigvintsev's teaching methods, the actress explained that "some of the things he would say to me" were "very difficult."

"It was also really, really hard for me because I was a ballet dancer and a modern dancer and [the] first day he was like, 'I've never taken any of that stuff. I've only done ballroom.' And I'm like, 'I've never done ballroom,'" she continued.

Related: Artem Chigvintsev Was Previously Accused of Shoving and Kicking Strictly Come Dancing Partner

Thompson went on to claim that the pro dancer was unfamiliar with ballet and therefore wouldn't use familiar terms she could understand.

"I was never allowed to say, can I try this?" she claimed. "[He] would get so mad at me because I can't do that. I can't think about that. I got all this stuff in my body. I mean, I did huge ballets. I did Serenade. I did, like, the great ballets. I did Swan Lake."

The Some Kind of Wonderful alum said that the breaking point occurred in "the fourth or fifth week" when the two were learning a salsa routine.

"I remember once he was really mad at me because I was counting crazy," she recalled, sharing how she would say the number to the steps aloud. "He was like, 'Why are you counting like that?' And I was like, what?"

"It's so funny when I watched Dancing with the Stars, no one realizes how much you guys are screaming at us," she said of the pro dancers. "I'm sorry. I was like, my mind works a different way."

PEOPLE has reached out to Chigvintsev's rep for comment.

Related: Artem Chigvintsev Re-Adds Wife Nikki Garcia’s Name to His Instagram Bio After Removing It Following Domestic Violence Arrest

Thompson is not the only former dance partner of Chigvintsev's who has come forward with accusations about working with him on a dance show. In the wake of his arrest, a 2015 interview with British television presenter Fern Britton resurfaced on the internet, in which she accused Chigvintsev of shoving and kicking her during their time as partners on U.K.’s Strictly Come Dancing in 2012.

Chigvintsev later told the Daily Express in 2015 that Britton’s accusations were not true. "I believe I treated Fern with respect and genuine care and these claims about me are the opposite of everything I believe in and the person I am,” he said. “I cannot imagine what has prompted such statements which come as a shock to me."

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Following Chigvintsev's arrest, a rep for his wife told PEOPLE, "This is a private matter and Nikki asks for privacy for her and her family at this time."

Garcia, 40, later made her first public appearance at Netflix's Chestnut vs. Kobayashi: Unfinished Beef, a live hot dog eating competition she co-hosted alongside Rob Riggle, on Sept. 2. She appeared to be in high spirits, though she was not wearing her wedding ring at the time.

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