DWTS’ Derek Hough recalls wife Hayley Erbert’s near-death experience

Derek Hough recalled the ‘devastating’ health scare that his wife Hayley Erbert faced after wrapping Dancing With The Stars season 32.

“It just all came to a screeching halt in the most devastating way,” he recalled in a clip announcing the performer's return to the show’s ballroom before the Oct. 15 Dedication themed episode.

As per People, the teaser will also broadcast live on the show before the couple's heartwarming performance in the ballroom.

“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 judge, who newly wed Erbert at the time, recalled.

“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 we have to operate right now,’” Hough continued.

“He said that she might not make it and that even if she does make it, she won't be the same person.”

In December 2023, former Dancing with the Stars troupe member Hayley Erbert was unexpectedly hospitalised due to a cranial hematoma, a condition where blood clots inside the skull.

At the time of the incident, she and her husband Derek Hough were in the midst of their Symphony of Dance tour. Erbert required immediate surgery, temporarily pausing the couple's tour.