Getty Allison Holker, Stephen "tWitch" Boss and family
Former “Dancing With the Stars” professional dancer Allison Holker lost her husband and father to her children when Stephen “tWitch” Boss died by suicide on December 13. On March 3, the “So You Think You Can Dance” all-star posted the first family photo since Boss’s death.
Allison Holker Wrote a Heartfelt, Emotional Message to Her 3 Children She Shared with Boss
In the caption on a photo of Holker sitting with her three children — Weslie, 14, Maddox, 6, and Zaia, 3 — the professional dancer wrote a heartfelt but also kind of heartbreaking message to her children in the wake of their father’s death.
“My loves we are stronger than you could ever imagine. And we will stand strong together as a unit, and find the courage to hold each other up. I will be here for you every step of the way through the highs and lows, the ups and the downs,” wrote Holker.
She continued by saying that the “love and light” that lives in their hearts will continue to shine, which is possibly a reference to Boss because she has referred to his “light and love” shining in the world in previous posts about her late husband.
The message to her children continues, “I will protect and I will guide, I will be a listening ear, a shoulder to cry on, I will have mom jokes ready for when you need a good laugh. The love and light inside our hearts will still shine. I love you forever and always. Mommy.”
The ‘Dancing With the Stars’ Family Continues to Rally Around The Holker-Boss Family
The comments on Holker’s latest Instagram post are full of her “Dancing With the Stars” family members leaving messages of love and support, as they have on every post she has made since Boss died.
Season 29 contestant Chrishell Stause wrote, “You are so incredible. Hope you feel your family wrapped in love from all over the world.”
“So good to see you all smiling! Sending you prayers for peace, strength and joy every day,” wrote season 18 contestant Danica McKellar.
Season 22 contestant Jodie Sweetin wrote, “Love this family so much.”
Pros Peta Murgatroyd, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Britt Stewart, Alan Bertsen, Gleb Savchenko, Sasha Farber, Kym Johnson Herjavec, former troupe member and Derek Hough’s fiancee Hayley Erbert, season 31 contestant Heidi D’Amelio, host Alfonso Ribeiro’s wife Angela, and season 25 contestant and Artem Chigvintsev’s wife Nikki Bella all left heart emojis.
Other famous friends wanted to leave their love for the Holker-Boss family as well.
Ellen DeGeneres, who worked with Boss on her talk show since 2014 and who has spoken candidly about missing her friend terribly, wrote to Holker, “I think about you all every day.”
“You are a shining light,” wrote comedian Chelsea Handler.
Comedian Loni Love added, “My boo boos!!!!!!”
“Sending you all the strength and love. All of it,” wrote actress Alyssa Milano.
Boss died in a Los Angeles hotel in December 2022 of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, as first reported by TMZ.
Boss was laid to rest in a private funeral on January 4 in Los Angeles, then on February 11 a public memorial was held that hundreds of people attended, including DeGeneres, Hough, legendary dancer Debbie Allen, choreographer Wade Robson, country singer Mickey Guyton, and several “Dancing With the Stars” contestants including Wayne Brady, AJ McLean and Andy Grammer, who was Holker’s partner in season 21.
Holker has been understandably quiet on social media since her husband’s death, but a week after the public memorial, she recorded a video for her fans, friends and loved ones thanking everyone for their support.
“I just want to say thank you for all the love and support that you guys have sent to me and my family at this time. It has been very challenging and emotional, but you guys have brought so much hope and inspiration to us by sharing stories and memories and moments and different ways that Stephen impacted your life and it’s brought us so much hope and inspiration,” said Holker.
She continued:
[Stephen] was someone that was just beautiful and he lived his life for love and he made you feel a certain way. My family and I have always said that we wanted to make sure that our purpose was lived out by bringing joy to people, joy to people’s homes from dance or love. And that’s not going to change for us. It’s going to feel a little bit different, but we know that that’s our purpose and we’ll still do that to this day.
I hope that we can remember the feeling that he gave us and remember that we can still move from there. We can still move, and choose love and we can still choose grace and we can still choose kindness. I hope you guys remember how special you are and how much of an impact you make around the world and continue to move from there. We love you guys.
Boss and Holker had just celebrated their ninth wedding anniversary a few days before Boss’s death. There hasn’t been a clear motive as to why he died by suicide, but both TMZ and the Los Angeles Times confirmed that there was a note at the scene that vaguely referenced past challenges.