Derek Hough Cries While Sharing New Details About Wife’s Health Emergency

Heavy/ABC Derek Hough gets emotional in a new interview.

Derek Hough and Hayley Erbert are promoting their new holiday tour, “Dance for the Holidays.” In a new press interview with Us Weekly, the couple dove a bit deeper into what happened on that fateful day in December 2023 when Erbert fell ill.

Hough recalled being in the hospital with Erbert while waiting for a CAT-scan and he said that she was “sort of unconscious” and her “breathing became almost non-existent.” The doctor came in to talk to Hough and said, “You just need to go and you need to sleep because you have a long road ahead of you.” It was this part of the interview that had Hough emotional.

Erbert ended up having a intercranial hematoma and had a craniectomy to remove the pressure. About 40% of her skull was removed. She later had another surgery to put her skull back together.

Hayley Erbert Said Her World ‘Went Black’

Erbert was having a fairly good night aside from being tired, but things turned quickly.

“I just remember being on stage. I remember dancing, and then my world just went black. And then I woke up in the hospital the next day,” Erbert recalled in the interview.

“I was completely unaware of what had just happened to me, but I remember dancing with him on stage. And I do remember being in a lot of pain, but, I just remember being like, ‘we were just dancing. What happened?’ I mean, there really weren’t any signs that day. I was really tired, but we had just been on a red eye flight from the ‘Dancing With the Stars’ finale,” Erbert explained.

She went on to say that it was the middle of the second act when she really started feeling unwell. Her first real symptom was an “excruciating headache.” She powered through it until her body gave her no choice. She went back stage and began having seizures.

After her surgery, Erbert decided that she would look at the bright side of things and use all of her energy and strength to heal so that she could dance again. She is proud to say that she’s about 98% back to her normal self nearly one year after her surgery.

Fans Reacted to Hayley Erbert & Derek Hough’s New Interview

Erbert and Hough both shared a preview of their Us Weekly cover on Instagram and fans commented with their support. Quite a few people left red heart emoji, while others praised Erbert for her strength.

“Your story & dedication dance together on DWTS was beautiful!” one person wrote.

“@hayley.erbert was like I am not letting anyone take me down !! Fought like a true queen,” someone else said.

“A true miracle,” a third comment read.

Hough and Erbert have been opening up more about the day that changed their lives. In fact, the two are shopping a documentary that will give more of an inside look at what they went through.

According to Deadline, the doc will be directed by Jason Bergh and produced by Bergh and Stephan Bielecki.

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