Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Derek Hough’s wife Hayley Erbert is pregnant with their first child after near-fatal health issues

Erbert suffered a near-fatal cranial hematoma in December 2023

Brittany Miller
Tuesday 22 July 2025 18:25 BST
Comments
Related: Derek Hough thinks his wife Hayley is a medical 'miracle'

Derek Hough and Hayley Erbert are preparing to welcome another little dancer to their family.

The Dancing with the Stars alums announced Tuesday via Instagram that they are expecting. The video showed the couple — who got married in August 2023 — hugging while looking out at a scenic view as Erbert held up sonogram photos.

“We can’t believe the biggest thing to happen to us could be so small,” their joint social media post was captioned.

The news of the pregnancy comes two years after Erbert underwent an emergency cranioplasty – a type of surgery where part of the skull is repaired after injury from previous operations — in December 2023.

Erbert, who is also a professional dancer, was taken to the hospital after she became disoriented during a performance in Washington at the time.

Hough and Erbert have been married since August 2023
Hough and Erbert have been married since August 2023 (Getty)

Hough later confirmed his wife had undergone surgery to replace a part of her skull that had been removed during a previous operation. She returned to the stage four months later.

One year after Erbert’s surgery, she made an appearance on DWTS as she danced with Hough to the song “Beautiful Things” by Benson Boone.

“I just remember laying on the hospital floor and just begging for her to stay alive,” Hough recalled on the dancing competition show.

Since getting married, the couple has previously opened up about wanting children. “We definitely want to have a family eventually,” Hough told E! News in September 2024. “We'll see what's in the cards, what's on the horizon. Little dancing children running around.”

The year prior, Hough and Erbert told Entertainment Tonight that they were considering moving up their timeline for having children, following the birth of fellow professional dancers, Val Chmerkovskiy and Jenna Johnson’s son, Rome.

“There wasn't a rush on [thinking about kids] until we just met Val and Jenna Chmerkovskiy's baby, and that was when it was kinda like, ‘Should we get on this now?’” Erbert said.

“It was pretty special, and actually it was cool 'cause Val, he was like, ‘Bro, for somebody who creates, this will be your ultimate creation,’” Hough chimed in.

After seeing the Instagram post with the pregnancy announcement, many DWTS cast members chimed in to congratulate the couple. “OMGGGG!!!! Baby Hough. Cannot wait to meet you!!!!!! Congratulations mama,” Johnson wrote, while professional dancer Mark Ballas wrote, “YAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYY I am so happy for you both.”

Hough and Erbert first met in 2014 after she was cast as one of the dancers for his and sister Julianne Hough’s “Move Live Tour.” They worked together for over a year before starting to date. Hough proposed in 2022.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in