DWTS alum Hayley Erbert Hough had to change her mindset after life-threatening brain bleed: 'What...

The professional dancer said a doctor encouraged her to focus on what she could control on her healing journey. DWTS alum Hayley Erbert Hough had to change her mindset after lifethreatening brain bleed: 'What can I control?' The professional dancer said a doctor encouraged her to focus on what she could control on her healing journey. By Emlyn Travis :maxbytes(150000):stripicc()/EmlynTravisauthorphotocba6765b433b4f93b9398d18053153b1.jpg) Emlyn Travis Emlyn Travis is a news writer at . She has been working at EW since 2022. Her work has previously appeared on MTV News, Teen Vogue, and NME.

The professional dancer said a doctor encouraged her to focus on what she could control on her healing journey.

DWTS alum Hayley Erbert Hough had to change her mindset after life-threatening brain bleed: 'What can I control?'

The professional dancer said a doctor encouraged her to focus on what she could control on her healing journey.

By Emlyn Travis

Emlyn Travis

Emlyn Travis is a news writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2022. Her work has previously appeared on MTV News, Teen Vogue, and NME.

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June 9, 2026 3:32 p.m. ET

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Hayley Erbert Hough in 2026. Credit:

Roy Rochlin/Getty

- Hayley Erbert Hough shares how she changed her perspective on her healing journey.

- The professional dancer suffered a life-threatening brain bleed while on tour in 2023.

- "I decided to just be like, 'Okay, what can I do to progress? What can I do to get better? How can I get on that stage?'" she said.

Hayley Erbert Hough says she had to accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative thoughts surrounding her health and future after undergoing an emergency craniectomy in December 2023.

The *Dancing With the Stars* alum told PEOPLE that she had to shift her entire mindset to focus on the parts of her life that she could control while recovering from the life-threatening brain bleed.

"I could sit here and just cry, 'Why me? Why did this happen to me?'" the 31-year-old told the outlet at the Tribeca Festival premiere of her film, *Symphony of Dance.* "But I decided to just be like, 'Okay, what can I do to progress? What can I do to get better? How can I get on that stage?'"

Hayley Erbert Hough and Derek Hough in 2025.

Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty

The professional dancer was hospitalized on Dec. 6, 2023, after becoming disoriented while performing on the Washington, D.C., stop of the* Symphony of Dance* tour with her husband, *DWTS* pro-turned-judge Derek Hough. She was diagnosed with an intracranial hematoma (a collection of blood underneath the skull) from a burst blood vessel and subsequently underwent a craniectomy that removed a portion of her skull to treat the condition.

Erbert Hough credited a member of her medical team with helping to change her perspective on her healing journey.

'DWTS' star Derek Hough and wife Hayley Erbert get emotional in first live TV interview since her emergency craniectomy

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"A doctor actually said to me, 'There's gonna be a lot of things throughout this journey that you can't control, so control the things that you can,’” she recalled. “And for me, that was mindset.”

From then on, Erbert Hough explained that she made sure to prioritize showing up for those near and dear to her. “How can I be better for my family and my husband and my friends?” she asked. “So I just instantly went to: ‘What can I control?’ And that's the way I think.”

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Erbert Hough would go on to dance again, completing her and Derek’s *Symphony of Dance* tour just five months after her hospitalization in May 2024. Speaking with PEOPLE, Hough recalled that he "completely forgot all the routines" at their first dance rehearsal back, but that his wife still knew them by heart.

"She was like, 'It's okay, honey. I got this.' And I looked at her and I kind of said, 'You've been practicing, haven't you?'" he said. “And she's like, 'Yeah, I was laying in the hospital and I was going over the routines. I was imagining, I was envisioning being back on stage.'"

Derek Hough and Hayley Erbert Hough on 'Dancing With the Stars'.

Disney/Eric McCandless/Getty

Up until that point, the six-time Mirrorball champ admitted that he’d been feeling resentful towards dance until they took to the stage.

"I felt the push and pull, the ebb and flow that you feel when you're dancing with somebody. That moment, my heart just opened back up to dance in a bigger way than ever," he said. "Being able to dance with her, it's so special."

Erbert Hough added, “I’m so grateful to be here and I'm so grateful for my health and my body to allow me to be there."

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Published: June 11, 2026 at 07:38AM on Source: PRIME TIME

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