Allison Holker is speaking out amid the backlash surrounding her decision to share personal details about late husband Stephen “tWitch” Boss in her upcoming memoir.
On Tuesday, January 7, Holker, 36, gave a wide-ranging interview to People about This Far: My Story of Love, Loss, and Embracing the Light, which tackles her life and Boss’ death by suicide. Some of Boss’ loved ones expressed their frustration with Holker’s revelations about her husband’s alleged drug addiction and more.
“Anyone who knows me, knows I go straight to the source during a conflict and handle my business,” Courtney Ann Platt, who appeared on So You Think You Can Dance alongside Holker, began via Instagram on Tuesday. “But since there’s clearly no shame in being so public, I haven’t said a word in two years but here I go. This is by far the most tacky, classless, opportunistic act I have ever seen in my entire life.”
Platt, who says she was friends with the couple, specifically referenced how Holker mentioned details from Boss’ life he hadn’t mentioned publicly before his 2022 death, writing, “You’re a living, breathing bulldozer. Stick to your own demons. Shame on you Allison, shame on your money hungry team. Let my friend Rest in Peace not your PR.”
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Boss’ brother Dré Rose, meanwhile, claimed there was ongoing tension between Boss’ family and Holker.
“We have noticed a disturbing lack of communication and inclusion concerning the children’s activities and well-being,” he wrote on Tuesday. “It’s disheartening that their interactions with their grandmother, and the wider family, have been noticeably limited.”
Holker has yet to respond specifically to Platt and Rose, but when fellow dancer Kelly Gibson wrote, “This whole thing made me sad. He’s gone. Why tear apart this name? This paycheck was not worth disgracing his name” in the comments of People’s post, Holker responded: “I’ll always love you. Just trying to help people feel safe to ask for help and support.”
Holker went on to repost several supportive Instagram Stories on her account. “Sharing this powerful message to remind us all how important it is to have open conversations about mental health,” read a message from a social media user.
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Us Weekly has reached out to Holker for comment. During her interview on Tuesday, Holker discussed finding closure after Boss’ sudden death. (Boss, best known for his all-star appearances on So You Think You Can Dance and as the regular DJ on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, died by suicide in December 2022 at age 40.)
“He was wrestling with a lot inside himself, and he was trying to self-medicate and cope with all those feelings because he didn’t want to put it on anyone because he loved everyone so much,” she told People about reading through her late husband’s journals after his passing. “He didn’t want other people to take on his pain.”
Holker revealed that Boss alluded to being sexually abused by a male figure during his childhood in the entries. “Reading Stephen’s journals, and even going back into the books he had read and the things that he was highlighting and lining, really gave me a better perspective of where he was in life and the type of things he was struggling with,” she told the outlet.”It did have me feel a lot of empathy towards him and sadness for all the pain that he was holding.”
According to Holker, Boss was also hiding an alleged drug addiction. (No drugs were found in the late dancer’s system at the time of his death.)
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“I was with one of my really dear friends, and we were cleaning out the closet and picking out an outfit for him for the funeral,” Holker said about the “cornucopia” of drugs including mushrooms, pills and “other substances” she had to look up after finding them in Boss’ shoeboxes. “It was a really triggering moment for me because there were a lot of things I discovered in our closet that I did not know existed.”
She continued: “There was so much happening that I had no clue [about]. It was a really scary moment in my life to figure that out, but it also helped me process that he was going through so much and he was hiding so much, and there must have been a lot of shame in that.”
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org. If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
