“I’m just, I really am in awe of her everyday,” the ‘DWTS’ judge gushed. “She’s incredible. She really is a miracle and I don’t really throw that word around lightly, but she really is.”
Derek Hough is in awe of his wife Hayley Erbert.
Hough spoke to Entertainment Tonight at the premiere of Jennifer Lopez’s new musical cinematic experience, This Is Me… Now: A Love Story, where he shared an update on his wife’s health journey following her multiple surgeries and traumatic brain injury.
“She’s unbelievable,” Hough gushed. “When I married her, I knew she was strong, but I really didn’t realize how strong she really was until now.”
“I’m just, I really am in awe of her everyday,” he added. “She’s incredible. She really is a miracle and I don’t really throw that word around lightly, but she really is.”
Hayley was taken to the hospital in December after becoming “disoriented” during a performance on the couple’s Spectacular Symphony of Dance Tour. There, the dancer was diagnosed with a cranial hematoma which required an emergency craniectomy.
That was then followed by another surgery, cranioplasty, to repair her skull.
While it’s been a “crazy” time, the Dancing with the Stars judge said it’s also been a “beautiful” one for the newlyweds, as they navigate Erbert’s recovery.
“It’s been a crazy time, but I tell you what, it’s been an amazing and beautiful time, because all the little wins, the triumphs, it’s just incredible,” Hough told the outlet. “She’s amazing.”
The health update comes just days after Erbert spoke out for the first time since her hospitalization, telling fans that she has a “new outlook” on life since suffering the medical emergency.
“It’s been quite some time since we’ve been on here, for good reason,” Hough began, before his wife, who showed off her shaved head and surgery scar, spoke about her procedures. “Here I am today. It has been quite the journey. There’s been so much that has happened in two months. Lots of emotions. All the things,” she said.
“To this day, I still have really good days and really bad days. Emotionally and physically. But I’m doing so much better every single day. Like, truly, there is so much progress every day. I’m so grateful for that,” she shared.
Hough said that while the two have gone through “the highest of highs to the lowest of lows,” his wife has been nothing short of “unbelievable” through it all.
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Erbert then told fans just how much their words of support have meant throughout her surgeries and recovery — recalling how Hough told her just how many people were thinking of her after they opened up about her condition.
“I remember just looking at him and just saying, ‘You didn’t even have to tell me that, I can feel it,'” she shared. “I genuinely felt that through my body. I felt it in my heart. I felt it in my soul. So thank you all so much for your messages, your love, your life, your prayers.”
Those well-wishes, she said, helped her work through her ongoing recovery “faster” than anticipated. “It’s helped me heal, it’s helped me stay positive throughout the entire experience,” she added.
Derek Hough’s Wife Hayley Erbert Speaks Out for First Time on Medical Emergency, Skull Surgery
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As Hough spoke about the new year, the two also pointed out her new haircut as well.
“A new scar. A new sack of fluid on the side of my face, which is supposed to eventually go away,” she continued. “I also got a new skull, also a new outlook on life. Life is so precious and just spend time with the ones you love. Hold them close, because you never know what could happy. I’m grateful for all the people who supported me through everything.”
“It’s been a wild one, to say the least,” concluded Hough, before the pair promised to reveal more about their journey in the future.
Hough and Erbert have been married for less than six months, tying the knot on August 26 before kicking off their tour in September.
