What Derek Hough’s Wife Hayley Asked Doctors After Craniectomy (Exclusive)

Derek Hough is reflecting on his wife Hayley Hough’s recovery from her emergency craniectomy two years ago and their journey to parenthood.

In the couple’s PEOPLE cover story, Derek, 40, reveals one of the first things Hayley, 31, asked her doctors when she got out of her surgery, during which she had 40 percent of her skull removed to relieve the pressure caused by a brain bleed from a burst blood vessel. (She later had a second surgery for a skull implant.)

“One of the first things Hayley said when she came to after her surgery — missing half of her skull, face swollen — was not, ‘Am I going to be able to dance again?’ It was, ‘Am I able to have children in the future?'” Derek recalls. “The doctor was like, ‘Yes, of course.’ And here we are.”

Hayley’s dreams indeed came true on Dec. 29 when she and Derek welcomed their baby girl, Everley, in a planned home birth.

“We’ve had so many moments in life that are not as great,” Hayley says. “So she’s our rainbow after the storm.”

The Dancing with the Stars couple got married in 2023 after meeting nearly a decade prior when Hayley performed on Derek’s dance tour with his sister Julianne. In addition to Hayley’s health crisis, they were also involved in a serious car accident together in 2022 and experienced a miscarriage in 2024.

“She’s been through so much,” Derek says of his wife, tears welling up in his eyes. “To see her go from where she was to now, giving birth, is amazing. My daughter has a great example here.”

Hayley adds that their struggles have helped create “this foundation that is so strong.”

“Derek describes it as like a tree — the roots are so deep into the ground that no wind could shake us,” she says.

Since Everley’s arrival, Derek and Hayley have been blissfully sappy about this new period of joy.

“Literally every time I see Derek and Everley together, I just start crying,” says Hayley, as Derek adds, “There are so many times where I’m just quietly looking at her and tearing up. I said this to my family: ‘Hayley was meant for this.’ She is such a natural mother.”

As to whether they want more kids in the future, Derek says, “After this we’re like, ‘All right babe, let’s go! Let’s go.'”