Allison Holker Draws Criticism for Speaking on Stephen ‘tWitch’ Boss
Allison Holker is opening up about her late husband, Stephen “tWitch” Boss, just over two years after his death, but it’s drawn criticism and rebuttals from some of Boss’s family members and friends. The beloved dancer and Ellen DeGeneres Show DJ died by suicide at 40 in December 2022. In a cover-story interview for People ahead of the upcoming February release of her memoir, This Far: My Story of Love, Loss, and Embracing the Light, Holker said that she learned after his death that Boss had been “hiding so much.” The widow shared details about what she found in his hidden shoe boxes and what she learned from reading his journals after his death.
Who is Allison Holker?
Allison Holker is a dancer who competed on the second season of So You Think You Can Dance. She met Boss while they were both appearing as all-stars on the seventh season of the show. The pair got married in 2013. They went on to share three children, including Holker’s daughter from a previous relationship whom Boss adopted. More recently, Holker debuted as a SYTYCD judge in 2024. She is currently dating tech CEO Adam Edmunds.
What did Allison Holker say about tWitch to People?
Holker described a “really triggering moment” when she says she found a “cornucopia” of drugs — including mushrooms, pills, and “other substances” she had to look up on her phone — hidden inside Boss’s shoe boxes while cleaning out the closet and picking out his funeral outfit. “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,” she told People.
Holker added that she read Boss’s journals in search of clarity and closure. People notes that Boss alluded in several entries to being sexually abused during his childhood by a male figure. “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,” Holker said. “He didn’t want other people to take on his pain.” She explained that she is opening up about his struggles in the hopes of helping even just one person who is silently dealing with the same thing.
How have tWitch’s family members reacted?
Boss’s brother Dré Rose pointed to a critical Instagram post about Holker from Courtney Ann Platt, Boss’s friend and fellow SYTYCD alum. “No lies were told,” Dré Rose captioned an Instagram Story sharing Platt’s post, which called Holker a “tacky, classless, opportunistic act” and denounced her People interview and upcoming book as a “smear campaign for a buck.” Platt claimed that in order to attend Boss’s funeral, everyone — including Boss’s mother, whom Holker allegedly has “treated like garbage this entire time” — had to sign “some weird NDA.” She concluded her post with a request for Holker to let Boss “Rest in Peace not your PR.” Boss’s other brother, Cameron, also shared Platt’s post on his Instagram Story.
Boss’s cousin Darielle tweeted that Holker has “been trying to tarnish his legacy and refuses to let the Boss family see the children,” echoing claims that Holker made family members sign NDAs to attend the funeral. Darielle suggested that Holker was lying about the drugs, pointing out that Boss’s autopsy showed no drugs or alcohol in his system at the time of his death. She also retweeted a screenshot of an Instagram post from Boss’s friend Emmanuel Hurd that alleged that a “toxic” Holker was actually the one who was “messing with” drugs. “I truly believe HE WOULD STILL BE ALIVE had he not been MARRIED TO YOU,” Hurd wrote.
Another cousin of Boss’s, Zachary, said in an Instagram Reel that Holker’s People interview doesn’t align with the purported desire to “protect [Boss’s] legacy” that was provided as the reason that funeral attendees had to sign NDAs. He described Holker as a “liar” and a “narcissist” who “leveraged” his cousin’s death to “elevate” herself. He cast doubt on Holker’s story by noting that she “supposedly” found a shoe box, but added that he is sure that if the situation was reversed, his cousin would never have revealed the contents of Holker’s shoe box or journal. “Because he had respect and honor for who you were,” he said. “Much better than I can say for you.”
Has Allison Holker responded to the criticism?
Yes. Kelly Gibson, a former Ellen guest, commented on Holker’s joint Instagram post with People that the “paycheck was not worth disgracing [Boss’s] name.” “I’ll always love you,” Holker replied. “Just trying to help people feel safe to ask for help and support.”
If you or anyone you know are in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255.
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