In her upcoming memoir, American dancer Allison Holker will discuss personal information about her late spouse Stephen “tWitch” Boss, a decision that has drawn controversy.
“I would like to clarify to Stephen’s fans and our family and friends that my sole goal in writing the book is to share my own story and a portion of my life with Stephen to help others,” she wrote in an Instagram story on Wednesday. “Like you, I had no idea what had happened, and even now, as I try to piece it together, I will never truly know.”
At the age of 40, Boss, the gregarious DJ of “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” and dancer who became well-known on “So You Think You Can Dance,” committed suicide in December 2022.
He had just celebrated his ninth wedding anniversary with Holker a few days before.
Holker, who also dances, revealed in a recent exclusive interview with People magazine that she found a “cornucopia” of drugs, including pills, mushrooms, and “other substances I had to look up on my phone,” tucked away among her late husband’s personal belongings while getting ready for his funeral.
She explained, “I was with one of my very close friends, and we were organising the closet and choosing an outfit for him to wear to the funeral.” “I found a lot of items in our closet that I was unaware of, so it was a highly triggering time for me. Finding out that there was so much going on that I didn’t know anything about alarmed me greatly.
“Determining that was a really scary moment in my life, but it also helped me process that he was hiding a lot of things and going through a lot of things, and there must have been a lot of shame in that.”
In an Instagram post on Thursday, Boss’s mother, Connie Boss Alexander, said, “Our family is appalled by the misleading and hurtful claims made about my son, Stephen Boss.”
“The latest publications that spread false information on Stephen have gone beyond all reasonable bounds. She wrote, “As his mother, I will not allow these charges to remain unanswered.” “We will not allow his reputation and legacy to be damaged. Both the children and he are undeserving of this.
According to his mother’s letter, she has spent the last two years “keeping quiet and out of the spotlight to protect my family.”
Credit: Entertainment Weekly
She continued, “My main priorities have been getting better and trying to stay in touch with my grandchildren. But I knew I couldn’t keep quiet any longer after reading these horrible allegations about my child, our darling Stephen. His honour will be upheld, and our family will make sure his name and memory are preserved.
“I hope you will see that I intend to celebrate the love and life I shared with Stephen and our three lovely children, as well as the more complex aspects of both of our lives,” Holker wrote in the note that was shared on her Instagram account.
“By sharing our entire story, I hope to help someone else see themselves or a loved one in Stephen,” she wrote.
“I hope that by sharing, they will be able to identify some of the warning signs that I overlooked before it’s too late.”
All of the book’s sales, Holker continued, “will go towards funding the mental health-focused foundation I started in Stephen’s honour, Move with Kindness.”
Holker wrote: “I hope we don’t have to lose another father, brother, husband, or friend to suicide.”
Boss and his spouse were romantically involved and all-star dancers on Season 7 of “So You Think You Can Dance” in 2010.
“We have been together ever since we shared a dance at the wrap party of that season of ‘So You Think You Can Dance,'” Boss told People just months before he passed away.
Holker’s new book, “This Far,” will be out on February 4.
