Getty Images Peta Murgatroyd shared a heartbreaking post with fans.
Peta Murgatroyd’s father, Derek, died in December 2022, several months after being diagnosed with diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis. The “Dancing With the Stars” pro shared the news of her dad’s passing on Instagram at the time.
On July 22, 2023, Murgatroyd’s dad would have celebrated his birthday. To mark the occasion, Murgatroyd took to Instagram to remember him.
“Thank you for always being the happy smiley one. Thank you for always being there for me and thank you for always being a phone call away. It’s your birthday today and you being a typical cancerian like me would want nothing more than to spend it with family. So here I am thinking about you since I woke, thinking about you listening to your jazz music high in the sky,” Murgatroyd captioned the post.
Here’s what you need to know:
Peta Murgatroyd Said Her Dad’s Birthday Was ‘Hard’
On her Instagram Stories, Murgatroyd said that it was absolutely “wild” that she couldn’t just pick up the phone and call her dad to wish him a happy birthday.
“First birthday that I can’t hear his voice and talk to him. Wild,” she said. Meanwhile, she expressed having a very hard day in her Instagram caption.
“I miss you. Terribly. The word terribly doesn’t really suffice though. My heart aches to hear your voice again. Know that you’re missed beyond measure. I still feel the warmth of your hand in mine when we last said goodbye. I said to you…’don’t go anywhere ok dad?!’ Your words back to me were…’well where do you think I’m going darl?!’ You never wanted to seem like you were done, you never wanted to scare me or make it seem like it was the end. I will never forget it. You were so strong,” she continued.
“I love you forever. And ever. Today is f****** hard,” she concluded.
Peta Murgatroyd Isn’t Used to Not Having Her Dad
Both of Murgatroyd’s parents called Australia home, which means that she didn’t get to see them super frequently. Their main mode of communication is telephone — whether that’s a call, a text, or a FaceTime.
For this reason, it has been hard for Murgatroyd to really take in her father’s death, which was evident after she gave birth to her son, Rio, in June 2023.
“There was a moment after the birth where I looked at my mum and said ‘did you text dad?’ …I welled up with tears as I realized I’d forgotten he was gone. It was a moment for me. I knew I felt his spirit there and I know he will be looking down and protecting all of us here,” Murgatroyd wrote in an Instagram post on June 26, 2023.
Murgatroyd’s father has not been far from her mind as she’s welcomed a new baby into her life, either. In fact, when choosing a name for her second son, she wanted to be sure to honor her father in some way.
“We loved Rio, which we came upon at the last minute. It’s a perfect complement to our long surname! We also wanted something easy to say with Shai,” she told People magazine, adding that she and her husband, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, gave Rio the middle name “John” which is her father’s middle name.
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