As Hayley Erbert Returns to ‘DWTS,’ Derek Hough Recalls Her ‘Essentially Dying’ From Hematoma

Dan Clarendon October 15, 2024, 5:29 pm

Hayley Erbert & Derek Hough — Kayla Oaddams/Getty Images

As Hayley Erbert returns to the Dancing With the Stars dance floor, husband Derek Hough is recounting her near-fatal health scare.

Erbert suffered a cranial hematoma from a burst blood vessel on December 6, 2023, while in Washington D.C., touring with Hough on their Symphony of Dance tour.

“It just all came to a screeching halt in the most devastating way,” Hough says in a video package that will air before the couple’s dance on Dancing With the Stars tonight, Tuesday, October 15, per People. “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.”

The DWTS pro-turned-judge continues: “We rush her 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 [they] 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.”

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Erbert ended up undergoing an emergency craniectomy, as Hough told Instagram followers at the time. Weeks later, Hough shared on Instagram that Erbert was going under the knife again so doctors could “replace a large portion of her skull” in a cranioplasty operation.

And Erbert spoke about her recovery in an Instagram video with Hough this February, saying, “To this day, I still have really good days, and I have really bad days — emotionally and physically sometimes — but I’m doing so much better every single day.”

Now Erbert is coming back to DWTS, where she previously served as a dance troupe member. In tonight’s “Dedication Night” episode, Hough and Erbert — who marked their one-year wedding anniversary this August — will perform a moving routine to an acoustic version of Benson Boone’s song “Beautiful Things,” ABC says.

In a Facebook video, Hough said it will be a “very special performance with [his] beautiful wife.”

He added, “I can’t wait. It’s gonna be a really touching night, [a] special night, and I’d love for you to come join us, so see you soon.”

Dancing With the Stars, “Dedication Night,” Tuesday, October 15, 8/7c, ABC