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By Michaela Gordoni
DANCING WITH THE STARS pros and husband-wife duo Derek Hough and Hayley Erbert just gave their first TV interview since Erbert’s health scare in 2023.
“How are you doing now?” GOOD MORNING AMERICA’s Michael Strahan asked Erbert. She said, “I’m doing really great now. I’m feeling really healthy. I just feel really good. And we just welcomed our baby girl five months ago into this world, so doing really good, on cloud nine.”
The couple’s new documentary, THE SYMPHONY OF DANCE, explores Erbert’s experience with a cranial hematoma and her tough recovery.
In December 2023, Erbert had just finished dancing when she was rushed to the ER for an emergency procedure to release bleeding in her brain. Had she not had an immediate procedure, she would have died.
Part of their documentary’s description reads, “What begins as a glimpse into the marathon of night-after-night performances becomes something entirely different when Hayley is forced to fight for her life following a shocking health crisis. Hayley bravely allows cameras to capture her brutally difficult recovery as she struggles to stand, walk and, ultimately, dance again, while Derek battles with his own conflicted emotions surrounding the event. Symphony of Dance is a moving portrait of a couple facing an unexpected moment with grace, faith and perseverance.”
Hough shared that Erbert had an incredible recovery journey, but seeing her become a mom to their daughter, Everly, after a miscarriage has been the best.
Erbert said, “It’s crazy that it’s only been two and a half years. It feels like it’s been forever, but also, it was just yesterday. And we have truly come so far, and I’m so proud of both of us.”
Related: Derek Hough, Hayley Erbert Update Fans After Health Scare: ‘Life is So Precious’
“It’s a real insight into, really, how amazing this woman is, and I really mean that, seeing her strength, seeing her resilience,” Hough said of the doc. “People say, ‘Were you strong for her?’ I’m like, ‘No, no, no. She was strong for all of us.’”
Though she was in pain and hooked up to tubes, she was confident she would dance again.
“[Derek] always says that I’m a very stubborn person, and truthfully, I am. And that was when my stubbornness actually was a good thing, because I was like, ‘No, I will dance. I will dance again. I will be out on that stage,’” Erbert stated.
“And I went back out four months post-brain surgery. Maybe I’m a little crazy, but I was determined,” she said. “I had a clear goal, and I was like, ‘I will do this.’”
Hough is in complete awe of his wife’s strength.
“She would hold my face, saying, ‘Honey, trust me. I got this. We got this.’ And so, again, I’m supposed to be the one being there for her, but she’s the one that was really there for all of us in the most incredible way,” he said. “And to see her on that stage, to hear the audience, and to hear the emotion that was on there — which you will see in the documentary, and the process and the journey — it’s incredible.”
Hough is already so excited for Everly to watch the documentary one day.
“The one thing I love more than anything is being able to show her this one day and to show her what a bada** her mom is. I just can’t wait,” he shared.
Hough shared in an Instagram post, “This story holds one of the most terrifying, tender, and transformative chapters of our lives. There were moments we never expected to film, and moments we never expected to live through. To everyone who has supported us, prayed for us, checked in on us, or followed this journey from afar, thank you.”
When Erbert was pregnant with her daughter, she reflected on how the last two years have changed her life.
“It was a whirlwind to say the least…But I’m truly grateful for it all, and so incredibly proud of myself and my body for everything it has endured,” she said. “What a miracle it is that two years ago I was fighting for my life…and now, here I am creating life. 🤍”
Read Next: Hayley Erbert Celebrates ‘Miracle’ Pregnancy 2 Years After Life-Saving Brain Surgery
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