Derek Hough & Hayley Erbert Make 1st TV Interview After Major Health Scare

Derek Hough and Hayley Erbert are bringing their personal lives to the big screen.

The couple appeared on the Friday, June 5, episode of Good Morning America to promote their new documentary, The Symphony of Dance, which premieres at the Tribeca Film Festival on Sunday, June 7. Host Michael Strahan pointed out that the episode marked the pair’s “first live TV interview” about Erbert’s December 2023 health scare.

“How are you doing now?” Strahan asked Erbert, who replied, “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.”

Hough, for his part, said it’s been “wild” to see his and Erbert’s journey over the past few years play out in the film. “This documentary really just shows the raw and the real experience that we had and her returning back to the stage,” he stated. “But seeing the journey of her becoming a mother now, as well, has been the best thing in the world.”

Erbert added, “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.”

 

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In December 2023, Erbert was rushed to the hospital during a performance of Hough’s Symphony of Dance tour and underwent emergency craniectomy for a cranial hematoma. Erbert also underwent a follow-up surgery to replace a portion of her skull that was removed during the craniectomy.

Erbert made her triumphant return to the Dancing With the Stars stage for a special Dedication Night performance with Hough during Season 33 in 2024. The couple announced they were expecting their first child together in June 2025, and the spouses welcomed their daughter, Everley, that December.

On GMA, Hough said he and Erbert never planned to create a documentary, but were inspired to do so after director Jason Bergh filmed footage of their DWTS Dedication Night rehearsals.

“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 film. “People say, ‘Were you strong for her?’ I’m like, ‘No, no, no. She was strong for all of us.’ She was there with the smile, hooked up to the tubes and the wires in the hospital, and she had this determination, this, ‘I’m gonna dance again. I’m gonna be on that floor again.’ And it defied all the odds.”

Strahan noted that doctors told Erbert that she could have trouble walking or dancing again after her health scare, but she managed to do both. “[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. I had a clear goal, and I was like, ‘I will do this.’”

 

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Hough recalled feeling “resentment” towards dance after Erbert’s health scare, as the incident occurred while they were performing together. “She was so strong, and 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 wrapped up the interview by sharing how excited he is for their daughter 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 gushed.

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