Hayley Erbert Reveals She Has 'a Medical Team Around' When She’s Dancing After Her Emergency Surgery

Mar. 15, 2025

Derek and Hayley Hough.Photo:Disney/Eric McCandless

Disney/Eric McCandless

Hayley Erbert Houghis opening up about life since her medical scare.

Speaking toEntertainment Tonight, the dancer, 30, spoke about caring for her health following heremergency surgery in December 2023.

“I just listen to my body,” Hayley said alongside her husbandDerek Houghahead of their holiday tour,Derek Hough: Dance for the Holidays. “Being a dancer, I feel like I’m really in tune with my body.”

She added, “I do have a medical team still around.”

Speaking about his concerns when it comes to his wife dancing, Derek, 39, toldET, “I’m the one who I’m like, ‘What, what?’ ”

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Hayley Erbert Hough and Derek Hough perform on ‘Dancing with the Stars’ on Oct. 15, 2024.Disney/Eric McCandless

“It’s true, he’s the one with the nerves,” Hayley added, to which her husband continued, “‘We don’t need to do that.’ ”

“And she’s like, ‘Babe, I can do that.’ But she puts my mind at ease,” Derek told the outlet.

The couple were in the middle of their Symphony of Dance tour in Washington, D.C., when Hayley was rushed to hospital for a brain bleed.

Earlier this month, Derek recalled how his wife wasstill in her dance costumewhen she was hospitalized as Hayley made herreturn to theDancing with the Starsballroomwith anemotional performancewith Derek on the Tuesday, Oct. 15 live show.

The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!

Hayley Erbert Hough in April 2024.Jeff Moore/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

Jeff Moore/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

“It just all came to a screeching halt in the most devastating way,” Derek recalled of the moment in a video package on the ABC show. “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.”

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

The duo are set to open up more about their story in an upcoming documentary, set to be released in 2025.

“Jason Bergh, he’s an award winning filmmaker,” Derek toldET. “He came into the studio, just kept filming, kept coming with us to hospital visits, came out on the road with us and really captured the entire journey ‘cause it’s really powerful, it’s really beautiful and it’s amazing.”

source: people.com