Derek Hough got candid about how hard it was to relive memories of Hayley Erbert's health scare while watching 'I Am: Celine Dion.'
Derek Hough is showing Celine Dion some love while detailing one particularly difficult-to-watch aspect of her new documentary, I Am: Celine Dion.
The Dancing With the Stars judge and professional dancer, 39, took to Instagram on Thursday to share a throwback video of a time when he and his wife, Hayley Erbert, got the chance to meet Dion, 56, before a concert.
"Watched Celine Dion's new documentary... last night," Hough wrote. "We were lucky enough to meet her a couple of years ago, even sing and dance with her a little. Haha. She's a firecracker."
"We were so nervous meeting the queen," he continued. "Especially Hayley who is a diehard fan."
As for the documentary, the film details the icon's life and career -- as well as her painful battle with Stiff Person Syndrome (SPS), a rare autoimmune disorder. The doc doesn't shy away from showing Dion's new reality with her illness as she strives to live and perform like usual, but is occasionally sidelined by scary seizures.
"The documentary was incredibly powerful, showing Celine’s struggles with SPS but also her quirky and fun side," Hough wrote. "A very difficult scene was seeing one of Celine's SPS seizures play out in real time. It was so hard to watch seeing her in pain like that. It also reminded me of Hayley's seizure on the side of the stage a few months ago. I could barely re-watch."
Erbert was hospitalized for a cranial hematoma on Dec. 6 after she became "disoriented" during a performance on the couple's Spectacular Symphony of Dance Tour and required an emergency craniectomy.
Derek's Symphony of Dance tour officially wrapped in San Diego, California, on May 19. The 29-year-old dancer made her triumphant return to the stage to complete her stretch on the tour in April, and was met with a standing ovation from the crowd.
"Celine is an absolute legend, with a unique and one in a billion voice," Hough concluded in his post. "We're so blessed to witness her talent in our lifetime. I pray she heals and returns to the stage she loves so much."
During one moment in the doc, Dion is paralyzed for several minutes as she suffers a full-body seizure after a medical evaluation. According to the Mayo Clinic, Stiff Person Syndrome is "a rare disorder of motor function characterized by involuntary stiffness of axial muscles and superimposed painful muscle spasms, which are often induced by startle or emotional stimuli."
Since announcing her SPS diagnosis, Dion has been open with fans about how the condition has affected her life and career -- and effusive in her thanks for their support every step of the way.
She was forced to cancel her Courage World Tour, which restarted in 2022 after being paused due to COVID, but she has made several public appearances in recent months, including a surprise onstage moment at the 2024 GRAMMYs and several trips to hockey games with her sons -- René-Charles, 23, and 13-year-old twins, Nelson and Eddy.
Meanwhile, ET spoke with Hough in February, while Erbert -- whom Hough married in August just months before her hospitalization -- was still recovering, and he praised his wife for her inspiring spirit.
"She's doing amazing," he said. "She really is. I can't say enough, I really can't, how inspiring she is."
He added, "She's doing better each day. There's still some things we need to sort out, but even now, when I look back at where we were just a couple of months ago to where she is now, it's miraculous. It really is."
"It's incredible just to see the way she handled everything with such grace and strength," Derek gushed. "That's just her nature. I was really just in awe of that. It was incredible."
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