Derek Hough shares an emotional message about depression at parties

Derek Hough has shared a moving message about mental health and suicide.

“Actually, I was going to make this video a couple of weeks ago because I found out that a man I knew committed suicide on Thanksgiving morning, and it was a complete shock because he was the most positive, just optimistic and beautiful man you can imagine, and it was a jolt to say the least,” said the dancing with the stars judge, 37, said on an emotional Friday, December 16, instagram video. “But it was a harsh reminder of this time of year and of depressionof seasonal depression and just circumstances and the time of year when people feel like it’s too much.”

After privately mourning the loss of his friend, Hough decided to review his video plans on social media after learning that his fellow professional dancer Stephen “Twitch” Boss died by suicide on Tuesday, December 14. (The So you think you can dance the alum is survived by wife Allison Holker Y their three children: 16 years Weslie, Holker’s daughter from a previous relationship whom Boss adopted, 6-year-old son Maddox and 3-year-old daughter Zaia).

“The fact that [tWitch] it was exactly the same way as this man within a few weeks, it’s just heartbreaking, confusing, shocking,” Hough, who worked with Boss when the DJ was a guest judge on dance world – said. “There are so many different feelings and I’m trying to figure it out. I just want to express and say to anyone who is feeling these thoughts and these feelings, please, please, I beg you, I beg you, give people a chance to be there for you.”

After learning of Boss’s death, Hough shared an emotional instagram Tribute on Wednesday, December 14. He wrote: “My heart aches for @allisonholker and his beautiful family during this time. My mind clings to the memories of the dear friend we have all lost. When I think of tic, I think of Wisdom, Love, Light and Laughter.

Like the six times mirror ball champion continues to mourn the death of his two friendsoffered his Instagram followers a message of support.

“I know it feels like when you’re in that dark hole that it’s just not going to get better, and I’m telling you right now, I promise it is. It gets better,” Hough said Friday. “So if you have those thoughts, if you have those feelings, just know that you’re not alone. And when I say you’re not alone, I mean people are feeling those feelings right now. They’re having those thoughts, those anxieties right now and that you’re not alone. We weren’t meant to do this alone. We are not meant to figure this all out on our own. We are meant to figure this out together.”

The ballroom dancer, who captioned his social media video with the phone number of the National Suicide Prevention Lifelinehe concluded that “the only thing” he concretely knows is that “it does get better”.

The Utah native noted that he is have a hard time accepting the loss of their friends. “It’s so hard to understand that two extraordinary men leave us in exactly the same way in just a few weeks,” he said. “It is heartbreaking, it is too much, and the truth is that it is not slowing down. [and] It’s not getting better.”

Hough – who proposed to the love of a lifetime hayley erbert in June, he further implored his followers to “be there for each other” and feel safe enough to “open up.”

previous dance world judge has long been a mental health advocatehe even created his 2017 single “Hold On” to raise awareness for suicide prevention.

“I felt inspired to [record] and make a video so that I can talk about this topic, since it is close to my heart. There are people who deal with mental health,” Hough said. said exclusively us weekly in november 2017. “There is a stigma around it and the more we talk about it, the less stigma it becomes. We can encourage people to talk about it, especially men. Three out of four suicides are men. It’s amazing to learn, but that correlation between how high that number is with the mindset of keeping things to yourself and carrying this load. I just wanted to talk about it.”

The professional dancer said U.S at the time that he has been affected by suicide “a long time ago”, but the deaths of the musicians chris cornell Y Chester Bennington Those emotions resurfaced. “Those are the ones you hear about, but there’s one happening every minute. It’s devastating,” he recalled. “Not all wounds are visible.. … We keep a lot of things hidden and it’s important to talk about them. There is a lot going on in the world right now. We need to be there for each other more than ever.”

If you or someone you know is in emotional distress or thinking about suicide, call 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline in 988.