Utah native and “Dancing With the Stars” judge Derek Hough won his fourth Emmy on Sunday night — but he decided to dedicate it to his wife and fellow dancer Hayley Erbert, who is recovering after emergency surgery after being diagnosed with a cranial hematoma.
“Exactly a month ago I was in the hospital. “It was a completely different moment,” he said with emotion, People reported. “There was a life-changing moment a month ago that reminded me to truly appreciate and enjoy every moment.”
“What a stark contrast that was,” he continued, noting that he had just flown in from Washington, D.C., where Erbert is recovering, before dedicating his award to her, according to Deadline. “Your strength and courage this entire month has been incredible. You inspire me every day.”
Which dance did Derek Hough win an Emmy for?
For his work on Michael Buble's “Higher” on “Dancing With the Stars,” Hough received a Creative Arts Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography. The dance routine featured Hough and Erbert, who was his fiancé at the time, and the nomination gave Hough the distinction of having the most nominations for choreography – 13, Deadline reported.
The award-winning dance has 1.5 million views on YouTube.
“To my wife @hayley.erbert, this is for you, the heart and muse of this dance,” Hough shared in an Instagram post on Monday, which included a picture of him accepting the Emmy in the hand holds. “This journey, these moments are all the more valuable because of what we have been through together.”
How is Hayley Erbert?
Erbert was hospitalized and underwent emergency surgery after a performance on the couple's Symphony of Dance tour in early December. In a post the following day, Hough said that Erbert, who had become “disoriented,” was “diagnosed with a cranial hematoma due to a ruptured blood vessel and required an emergency craniectomy,” the Deseret News reported.
Hough regularly updates his fans about his wife's recovery. In an Instagram post, he said the “recovery process has been nothing short of miraculous.”
“While this is not the holiday season we imagined, we are incredibly grateful for it,” he wrote, the Deseret News reported. “We look forward to enjoying these moments with a deeper appreciation for life and the people in it.
“It was a profound reminder of how fragile life can be and how quickly things can change,” he continued. “But it also showed us the incredible strength and resilience that lies within us and the power of having a supportive community around us.”
How did Derek Hough and Hayley Erbert meet?
Erbert's diagnosis came just months after the dancers' wedding. The 29-year-old professional dancer married Hough, 38, last year after several years of dating, according to People.
Hough and his sister, “Dancing With the Stars” host Julianne Hough, hired Erbert to tour with them in 2014. Hough and Erbert began dating in 2015 when they both appeared on “Dancing With the Stars,” People reported.
The couple married last August and began their Symphony of Dance tour a month later. The show included a choreographed version of the couple's wedding dance to “Fall into Me” by Forest Blakk.
“Every time we rehearse it, I cry,” Hough previously told USA Today before the tour. “When we're overwhelmed, we take a moment to just look each other in the eye and say, 'I love you.' When I hear these words, it's like juice; I feel unstoppable.”