Derek Hough’s wife Hayley Erbert shows skull surgery scar for first time in emotional video detailing recovery
Hayley Erbert is speaking out following an emergency skull surgery — and a subsequent cranioplasty — after she was diagnosed with an intracranial hematoma last year.
In an Instagram post shared Monday, Erbert tilted her head forward, sharing her "new scar" on the top of her head.
"As some of you may know, in December… I had an emergency craniotomy and then a couple weeks later had a cranioplasty and here I am today," Erbert said, sitting next to her husband, Derek Hough, in her first video since her health scare. "It’s been quite the journey. There’s been so much that has happened in two months."
She added that there has been lots of "emotions" and "all the things."
Hough said the last two months have been "wild."
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"Going from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows, but I have to say throughout this experience this woman has been unbelievable and her perseverance and her acceptance of the whole situation and her strength has been remarkable to witness firsthand. She really is a miracle and it’s been miraculous," he explained.
The "Dancing with the Stars" pro and Erbert married last summer after getting engaged in 2022.
Hough previously revealed that Erbert had been diagnosed with an intracranial hematoma, a collection of blood within the skull, which prompted the craniotomy.
He has previously given updates on her recovery, but Monday was the first time she has spoken on camera about it.
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Erbert, tearing up, said when she woke up after her first surgery Hough told her "Babe, there’s so many people thinking about you, there’s so many people sending love to you,’ and I remember just looking at him and just saying, ‘You didn’t even have to tell me that. I can feel it.’ Like, 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 all of your messages, your love your energy, your light, your prayers. Thank you guys for all of it 'cause it means so much to me and to us as a family."
She said she believes all of the support is "what’s gotten me through this a little bit faster and it’s what helped me heal, what helped me stay positive throughout the entire experience."
Hough joked, "It's a new year, it’s a new haircut."
"A new scar," Erbert laughed, pointing to the bald spot running down the center of the top of her head.
"A new skull," Hough added.
Erbert laughed, "A new sack of fluid on the side of my face, which is supposed to eventually go away but right now it’s still there."
"Just a little cerebral spinal fluid just chilling out in there," her husband kidded.
Erbert added, "I also got a new skull, but yeah, also a new outlook on life. Like life is so precious and just spend time with the ones you love. Hold them close cause you never know what could happen."
She said she’s "grateful to be alive and be here to tell my story and really this is our story, and really it is quite the story."
She said they would "eventually" share the details of her surgery, adding they’re "just not quite yet there."