Derek Hough & Hayley Erbert Facing Emotional Night Following Health Emergency

Heavy/Getty Derek Hough and Hayley Erbert will perform on the stage where she fell ill.

Longtime “Dancing With the Stars” cast member Derek Hough and his wife Hayley Erbert are preparing for an emotional night. The couple is set to return to the stage in Washington D.C. where Erbert fell ill in December 2023.

“I’m so grateful to be here,” Erbert told ET. She and Hough will be performing at the same venue in Washington D.C. for the upcoming Dance for the Holidays tour. “It’s actually really crazy. We’re going to the exact venue where it all happened. Again. Almost an entire year later,” Erbert said. “We’re going to be flooded — flooded — with emotions,” she continued, giving her husband a hug. “I know. He’s going to really feel it,” she added.

Erbert started feeling off while performing during the Symphony of Dance tour. She went back stage where she started having seizures. She was rushed to a nearby hospital and underwent emergency surgery when doctors found a cranial hematoma.

Derek Hough Recounted the Scary Emergency on Season 33 of ‘Dancing With the Stars’

Hough and Erbert shared a bit more about their story on season 33 of “Dancing With the Stars.” In a package put together for the show, Hough gave some never-before-heard details of what happened to Erbert that fateful night.

“I was on stage and she’s supposed to come out. The stage manager walked out and just said, ‘Hey, she’s not coming on stage.’ She was on the side of the stage having full seizures. And essentially dying. It’s really hard to even put into words other than just pure fear. We rushed to the hospital. She’s still in her costume. And the doctor came to me and he said that she has a severe brain bleed. So we have to operate right now. He said that she might not make it. And that even if she does make it, she won’t be the same person,” Hough recalled.

He and Erbert performed a moving routine to a rendition of Benson Boone’s “Beautiful Things,” leaving the ballroom in tears. On October 15, Deadline reported that the couple is set to make a documentary about what they went through, including Erbert’s ongoing recovery.

Hayley Erbert Is Taking Precautions as She Returns to the Stage

On September 12, 2024, Erbert confirmed that she would be joining her husband on his multi-city dance tour.

“Guess who’s hitting the road for the Holidays?! I’m very excited to announce that I will be joining another tour with my husband, but this time with a twist. Come see us Dance For the Holidays! Make sure you get your tickets,” Erbert captioned an Instagram.

Meanwhile, in her interview with ET, Erbert noted that she’s taking precautions as she returns to doing what she loves.

“I just listen to my body,” she told the outlet. “Being a dancer, I feel like I’m really in tune with my body. I do have a medical team still around me, too, to let me know if something’s a little too much. But I’ve been cleared,” she continued, adding that Hough is the one who tends to be more nervous.

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