Allison Holker Boss gains strength through her children after the death of her husband.
The professional dancer and mother of three, 35, has been promoting her new picture book Keep dancing: a boss family groove which she co-created with her late husband, Stephen “tWitch” Boss, before his tragic death by suicide in December 2022.
During a performance op The Kelly Clarkson Show, she said there was a point where she considered not releasing the book as a way to “hold onto it for myself and for my kids, just to have something like a time capsule that we can look back on.”
Her PhD trips also brought her the Show today and the Viall Files podcastwhere she shared how she was able to lean on her three children she shared with Boss: daughters Weslie, 15, and Zaia, three, and son Maddox, seven, as a source of love and stability.
“There are so many moments that I’ve learned from my kids, or that we’ve learned together in the foreground, regardless of their age,” Holker told host Nick Viall.
Allison Holker, 35, revealed the special moment she and her eldest daughter Weslie, 15, were able to laugh for the first time since Stephen ‘tWitch’ Boss’ death; The family is pictured in June 2022, six months before Boss committed suicide
The So You Think You Can Dance star then revealed how she has been able to learn to be vulnerable with her children amid her grief, and then went on to highlight a very special moment she shared with Weslie, the eldest of her. children.
“We had a moment, months after everything happened, we were in our kitchen, and we were, for some reason, I don’t even remember what memory came up. I don’t even know anymore. But what I do remember was that it was our first laugh, and it took months before we could do that,” she admitted.
Mother and daughter burst into “wild, wild laughter” as they paused to wonder if it was okay to start laughing again in life.
“Immediately after we started laughing, we both looked at each other and almost stopped on a dime, because then there was almost instant regret, and a sadness because we felt bad about that laughing. Is this OK?’ she explained.
“And then we just embraced it, and then we cried, and we said, ‘Yes, no, we can laugh.’ We can do that,” Holker said, noting it was a moment she will never forget.
“Going through that genuine emotion, like, you know, emotion at the same time with someone else, was something I’ll never forget with her,” she said of the experience with her daughter. “And then we almost had to guide each other through it and convince each other that it was right.”
The choreographer admitted that the moment also made her even more grateful to have a family like Weslie in her life.
“I’m just really grateful that I have her and that I can defend her through all of this, and she can defend me through it,” she continued. “But she’s sweet, and that’s why I’m convinced we can learn more lessons from our own children, and sometimes they can learn from us, too.”
The choreographer is currently busy promoting her new picture book, which she co-wrote with her late husband Stephen “tWitch” Boss, including a stop on the Today show
The mother of three wrote the book with her late husband and then wondered whether she should stop the release to keep something of their loved one for herself.
Holker and her daughter Weslie make the rounds promoting the family’s picture book, a “sincere celebration of the family and their motto: ‘Keep dancing on’
Part of her children’s story can also be found in the pages of Keep Dancing Through: A Boss Family Groove, a “heartfelt celebration of family and their motto: ‘Keep dancing.’
“It was really a testament to our family. We wanted to write something that shared a day in the life of who we are, what we are, and we really believe in affirmations. So you really follow how my kids all go on this journey and how we get through everything,” Holker explained.
Encouraging readers to dance to a rhythm that is all their own, Mom, Dad, Weslie, Maddox and Zaia experience the ups and downs of a typical day in the book.
Mother and daughter shared a moment with Today hosts Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager after their talk show interview
“It feels like we have a new opportunity for a new beginning as a family to understand, learn and grow,” Holker said of her life moving on with her and their children
Birthday celebration: On the occasion of what would have been Twitch’s 41st birthday, his family spent part of the day at his grave on September 29
While contemplating whether to release the book or keep it in the family, Holker kept “reading the title over and over again” Keep Dancing Through, I thought that was all I could do, and that all I could do with my children and what I can teach them.’
“I felt like God and the universe were saying, ‘No, you have to do this,’ because everyone who has followed my journey and followed his journey and our family came together, and I had children with him, everyone was so supportive and nice and it was a A way for me to give back to them that they can also “keep dancing,” the Anoka County, Minnesota, resident revealed.
In the aftermath of her appearance on the Today show, Holker shared a photo of herself and Weslie together on set, along with some words of wisdom for living on.
“It feels like we have a chance at a new beginning as a family to understand, learn and grow,” she wrote. “But to also step into something that is just a new version of who we are now.”