NEED TO KNOW
Hayley Hough is keeping an open mind about her Dancing with the Stars future.
The professional dancer, 31, last appeared in the ballroom in 2024 — a year after her emergency craniectomy — to perform alongside her husband and DWTS pro-turned-judge Derek Hough. She previously served as a troupe member on the show from 2015 to 2019.
“Never say never,” Hayley tells PEOPLE about a possible return. “Lots of my friends have gone back after having kids, but it’s a little difficult with [Derek] being a judge. Might be a little bit of a conflict of interest.”
For his part, Derek, 40, says he’d be “overly hard” with scoring.
“I’d be like,’ Two.’ Then I’d be like, ‘Babe, I love you. I’m so sorry,'” he says.
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For now, new parents Derek and Hayley are focused on preparing to hit the road on their Encore dance tour in June — and they’re bringing their baby girl Everley, whom they welcomed on Dec. 29, with them.
“Hayley really wants to go out and dance and perform,” Derek says. “Knowing her, she will.”
Ari & Louise
Hayley says it’s “going to be interesting” having a baby with them on the road, but she can’t picture it any other way.
“When we would be in meet and greets on tour, a lot of people would ask me, ‘Where do you see yourself in your career in five years?'” she recalls. “I kept being like, ‘You know? I don’t know.’ I had this epiphany one time being like, ‘The reason why I don’t see anything in my career in the future right now is because I want to be a mom.'”
“That was the only thing that I saw in my future, and so now that it’s here, I’m like, ‘I just want to relish in it, and I’ll figure out the work eventually,'” she continues. “But I do know that I want to dance. I want to keep moving. We will see if my body is ready to do the whole show. Maybe I’m just in a number. Who knows?”
As for whether they plan to put little Everley in dance eventually, Derek says, “Of course.”
“Not that she has to be a dancer, but dancing is such a great way to learn about your body and work on coordination, confidence, community,” he says. Hayley adds, “We’ll see if she’s a little dancer. We have friends whose kids love dance because their parents are dancers, and we have friends whose kids hate dance because their parents are dancers. So you never know.”
