Hayley Erbert has opened up about the emotional complexity of becoming a mother, months after giving birth to her first child with husband Derek Hough. The former Dancing with the Stars professional, 31, shared three photographs on Instagram of herself and her daughter, Everley, lying on a blanket outdoors.
In the caption, Erbert described motherhood as “more complex and contradicting than I could have ever imagined”, adding that she experiences joy and heartache simultaneously. “I find myself celebrating every little bit of your growth, while quietly grieving the version of you that existed just moments before,” she wrote. She noted she is embracing the “dichotomy of motherhood” with open arms.
Everley’s birth came two years after Erbert underwent emergency brain surgery in December 2023 for a burst blood vessel while on tour with Dancing with the Stars. She later had a skull implant and returned to the stage four months after the procedure. Derek Hough, a DWTS judge, described her recovery as “nothing short of a miracle”.
Reflecting on her health in a separate Instagram post, Erbert called the surgery a “second chance at life” and said she has experienced every human emotion imaginable. She and Hough announced they were expecting their first child in July 2024, sharing a sonogram video with the caption: “We can’t believe the biggest thing to happen to us could be so small.”
